Jeremy Renner nearly lost his life outside his Lake Tahoe residence on New Year’s Day 2023 in what could have been a devastating accident.
The Hollywood actor was with his 27-year-old nephew, Alexander Fries, when he noticed a Snowcat machine beginning to roll toward his relative, creating a dangerous situation where his nephew could be trapped between the plow and a nearby truck.
In an attempt to prevent this potential tragedy, the actor tried to engage the stop mechanism on the machine but slipped and fell directly in front of it, resulting in him being struck and crushed by the seven-ton vehicle.
In his recently released memoir, “My Next Breath,” Renner maintains that he actually “died” that day outside his residence and experienced an extraordinary otherworldly encounter.
In the book, he documented: “I died, right there on the driveway to my house. Though I’d broken more than 30 bones and lost six quarts of blood (I’d find out the true extent of the injuries only later) an even greater danger to me as the minutes dragged by on the ice was hypothermia. I know I died—in fact, I’m sure of it.”
Rather than focusing on the excruciating physical pain one might expect, Renner described an unusual moment of tranquility.
The actor shared his recollections of that experience, explaining: “When I died, 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, two-way vision made from strands of that inconceivable energy.”
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa,” Renner provided additional details about his purported otherworldly experience and explained why returning to his physical form proved frustrating.
He elaborated: “It’s a great relief is all I can say. It’s a wonderful relief to be removed from your body. It is the most exhilarating peace you could ever feel. You don’t see anything but what’s in your mind’s eye. You’re the atoms of who you are. The DNA. Your spirit is… it’s the highest adrenaline rush. But the peace that comes with it, it’s magnificent. It’s so magical. And I didn’t want to come back. I remember, and I was brought back and I was so pissed off.
“I was gone for, I think probably for, it doesn’t matter if it’s five minutes or two minutes or 10, but I came back and I saw the eyeball again. I’m like, oh, s***. I’m back. Saw my legs. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s gonna hurt later.’ I’m like, all right, let me continue to breathe.”