“I won’t have a bad day for the rest of my life”: Jeremy Renner on the “wonderful lessons” from his accident

Jeremy Renner appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday and spoke about the “wonderful lessons” he learned from his near-fatal snowplow accident on New Year’s Day in 2023.

Renner was scheduled to appear last January, but “I was kinda tied up,” the Avengers actor understated.

The Oscar-nominated actor discussed the accident in sometimes gory detail, but also the “love” that kept him going.

Renner recalled of Fallon, “He texted me … when I was in the ICU, ‘Dude, you’re trending.’ ‘No, I’m dying,'” Renner laughed.

“I wanted to make you laugh,” Jimmy said, and it did.

“I was so worried,” Fallon admitted. “I thought we lost you.”

“For a second we did,” Renner replied with a laugh.

The actor said it is “cathartic” to talk about the near-death experience.

Renner recalled, “I had to exhale with all my might so I [could] suck air back in. … If I didn’t breathe then I would have been gone, right? … Forget the eyeball and all the titanium and the broken bones.”

Just breathe, he advised.

He learned, “If you get too stressed, or you things get difficult, just put one foot down, and put another foot down, and move towards it. … I think life can be made that simple.”

He added, “I can achieve anything at this point.”

Renner also said, “I won’t have a bad day for the rest of my life.”

On a lighter note, Renner also played a few rounds of “Egg Roulette” with Fallon and showed a clip of the third season of his Paramount+ show Mayor of Kingstown.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.