The Marvel star recently sat down for an interview with Men’s Health, where he shared the gut-wrenching details of his accident, which left him with 38 broken bones and resulted in a two-week stay in intensive care.
“I remember my head cracking on the thing and it just pressing on me - it’s exactly like you think it would feel. An immovable object and a crushing force, and something’s gotta give.
“But thank God my skull didn’t fully give,” he said. “And then it kept going. Undulate, undulate, undulate, undulate. Cheekbone broke, eye socket broke, and then from the crushing of getting run over by the machine, my eye bulged out. I could see my left eyeball with my right eyeball. I was screaming for a breath.”
Renner has revealed details of his horror snowplow accident. Photo / Instagram
The 53-year-old continued to say despite trying his absolute hardest, there was “no breathing” happening. As well as his broken facial bones, he also had 14 broken ribs and a burst lung.
He said in the first five minutes after the accident, he was focusing on how to breathe but noticed that with each attempt, he became increasingly tired.
“The EMTs arrived and I thought, I have to give my body up to them, because I’m cooked. I’m not getting up. These aren’t just cramps. I’m not gonna walk back down the driveway to see my family.”
The Marvel actor shared multiple updates from his hospital bed. Photo / Instagram
Reflecting on his time in intensive care, the Hawkeye star said most of it is a blur but he knows it was a “disaster” and at one point, he couldn’t even get out of bed to go to the toilet. When he finally could, it took him 17 minutes to get up.
Despite the actor’s grim situation, he remained positive and told himself “I have to get better than I was today”.
He told the magazine it was a huge help in his recovery.
Renner recently opened up about his return to work following his near-death accident last year.
The Marvel star was receiving around-the-clock medical care in an intensive care unit. While he overcame 38 broken bones, a collapsed lung and significant blunt chest trauma, the star says it wasn’t only his personal life the accident had an impact on.
Renner relied on a cane during public appearances for a short while after his accident. Photo / Getty Images
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, the star opened up about how the accident also changed his approach to acting, particularly while filming the third season of Mayor of Kingstown, in which he plays a power broker in a fictional Michigan city.
Confessing his on-set physical abilities are restricted now, he said it had resulted in cast and crew treating him differently.
“They have to treat me like I’m a child actor,” he told the news outlet. “The mayor of Kingstown is now like a 14-year-old.”
The star said his return to work was made easier with the help of the crew, who were quick to make changes to accommodate his new reality - including adapting the shooting schedule times and factoring in breaks for the star to stretch.
