Jeremy Renner Reveals Exactly What He Saw after ‘Dying’ In Snowplow Accident And Explains Why He’s Now Certain Death Is 'Not the End’
Jeremy Renner escaped death in a horrific snowplow accident and he's reliving the crash, and the aftermath, in a new book.
April 30 2025, Published 4:42 p.m. ET
Jeremy Renner has opened up about the "electric serenity" he felt moments after a snowplow accident left him clinically dead.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the Avengers star, 54, is now unafraid of death following his ordeal, which saw him crushed by a 14,300-lb snowcat outside his Lake Tahoe home on New Year's Day in 2023.
Renner is now unafraid of dying following the accident which nearly claimed his life.
He was on life support for three days, and his family members were unsure if he would pull through.
Now speaking about his near-death experience for the first time in his new memoir, My Next Breath, he described exactly what he saw when he thought his life was over — and how he's managed to bounce back.
Renner wrote: "What came to me on that ice was an exhilarating peace, the most profound adrenaline rush, yet an entirely tranquil one at the same time: electric serenity."
Recalling the moment he was lying dead in the cold, he added: "I could see my lifetime. I could see everything all at once.
"It could have been ten seconds; could have been for five minutes. Could have been forever. Who knows how long? In that death there was no time, no time at all, yet it was also all time and forever."
Bodycam footage from emergency services captures the moment Renner was treated for his injuries.
Renner later admitted he forgot to engage the emergency brake on the vehicle after plowing his property.
Acting purely on instinct, Renner attempted to jump back into the driver's seat and get the snowcat under control.
Instead, he was pulled under its tank-like tracks, leaving him with life-threatening injuries including 38 broken bones in his ribs, knee, ankles, pelvis, face and hands.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW
Blood is clearly visible in the aftermath of the near-fatal accident.
The sound of his bones crunching haunts him to this day. He also suffered a collapsed lung, a pierced liver and a major laceration in his head.
Renner writes that, as he laid on the ice for 45 minutes waiting for emergency vehicles to reach him, his pulse bottomed out at 18 beats per minute, by which stage, "you're basically dead."
"I know I died — in fact, I'm sure of it," he continues in the book.
"What I felt was energy, a constantly connected, beautiful and fantastic energy.
"There was no time, place, or space, and nothing to see except a kind of electric...energy."
He doesn't call the place heaven or the afterlife, but he describes it as entirely beautiful, a place that pulses and floats.
"All life was grand; all life just got better in death," he writes.
"Everything and everyone I love or ever loved in my life was with me."
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Renner bravely jumped back into the snowplow after making a recovery.
Remarkably, Renner jumped back on his snowplow once he recovered, refusing to let the accident hold him back.
He added: "I wanted to see a snowcat again, he was determined not to let the accident hold him back and got back into the driving seat that same year.
"Climbing back up into the cab was fine; firing it up was fine; simply moving it from one point to another was fine because I knew how to work it.
"What was a bit unsettling, though, was jumping down off the Snowcat and finding small pieces of my clothing still stuck in the tracks. There was part of my hat; there were strips of my clothes."
