Jeremy Renner explained that what kept him alive after his horrific snowplow accident was “the simplicity of just breathing.”
The Mayor of Kingstown and Marvel actor spoke about his memoir, My Next Breath, on CBS Mornings Tuesday, the same day of its release, revealing what went through his head after his snowplow accident in 2023.
On New Year’s Day, Renner was crushed by a 14,000 pound snowplow in his Nevada driveway.
He told the hosts that the “mental acuity” to focus on breathing is what saved him as he lay there with over 30 broken bones for 45 excruciatingly long minutes, waiting for paramedics to arrive.
.@JeremyRenner credits “the simplicity of just breathing” with saving his life, as he waited for paramedics after breaking more than 38 bones when he was crushed beneath a Snowcat on New Year’s Day in 2023.Renner’s new book, “My Next Breath,” tells the story of the accident and… pic.twitter.com/xtwiONsMp2
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) April 29, 2025
“I wasn’t breathing and there was no way my body was going to breathe because it was crushed. So that part just saved me, just zooming out, focusing on just breathing,” Renner said.
“Because if I wasn’t going to breathe, it didn’t matter that my eyeball’s out of my head, that my legs were all twisted up like a pretzel, doesn’t matter,” he said.
He added: “I’ll worry about that later. You gotta breathe first.”
Renner recalled how “the simplicity of just breathing, exhaling so I can inhale, and exhaling, then inhaling,” is what helped him control the pain he was feeling and ultimately saved his life.
“It’s like walking… you can’t walk without taking one step,” he said. “So the simplicity of that act helped me mitigate pain.”
He told the hosts what it felt like being crushed, how “your body is lit up and you’re drowning and you’re on fire and you’re being struck by lightning.”
“It’s all at once,” he said. “It’s just overwhelming.”
CBS Mornings host Nate Burleson asked Renner what he would say to himself if he could go back to the incident, the actor replying: “Keep breathing, it works.”
Renner attributed a large part of his healing journey to his daughter Ava, saying how she was his “fuel to get better.”
“She gets better if I get better, so all I have to do is get better for her, and not for me,” he said.
Initially, Renner didn’t even want to write about his near-death experience, wondering “why does anybody care about it?”
But he said that he hoped that the act of writing the book would teach people the importance of “getting out of your own way,” Burleson repeating Renner’s mantra: “The only obstacle in your way is you.
“That’s the lesson I had to learn, to get out of my own way and share the story because I knew it was valuable, and it’d be silly of me not to share it,” Renner said.
After the accident, he said that he’s learned to see the bigger picture and tries not to overthink things, which makes it a “lot easier to take a breath” and move forward.
“I oversimplify life because it is really just that simple,” he said. “And living in that space is quite a peaceful, joyful, clean, quiet life. It is beautiful.”
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