Jeremy Renner 'Refuses' to Be 'Haunted,' 'Victimized' by Snowplow Accident: 'I Shifted the Narrative'
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"I refuse to be f---ing haunted by that memory that way," the Avengers star said in Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview, airing Thursday night on ABC
Jeremy Renner is taking ownership of his story.
The Hawkeye actor, who is still recovering from a devastating Jan. 1 snowplow accident that saw him break more than 30 bones, told Diane Sawyer in an interview airing Thursday night on ABC that he has "shift(ed) the narrative of being victimized or making a mistake or anything else."
"I refuse to be f---ing haunted by that memory that way," added Renner, 52, in a Good Morning America-exclusive clip from the upcoming interview.
The Oscar-nominated star was helping a family member get a "stuck" vehicle out of the snow at his property outside of Reno, Nevada, when he was run over by his snowplow. Since then, Renner has undergone multiple surgeries.
While his emotional interview with Sawyer, 77, marks his first television appearance since the accident, he has been candid about his rehabilitation on social media.
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Recalling how he "was awake through every moment" of the scary incident, Renner said he "started moving [his] legs" when he had a realization.
"I said, 'Oh, that one — that one's really messed up. Oh yeah, that thing's gonna — that's gonna be a problem,' " the Hurt Locker actor told Sawyer.
"I'm thinkin' like, 'What's my body look like? Am I just gonna be like a spine in a brain like a science experiment?' " he said.
"Is that my existence now?" Renner added. "I sorta felt like, 'What am I — what's my existence gonna be like?"
After he got to the hospital, he told his family, "I'm sorry," in sign language — and he couldn't be more thankful for their support.
"This is what I talk to my family about from all their perspectives, which are horrifying, that I put upon them," Renner said. "What we just endured."
"That's real love. It's suffering. But that feeds the seeds of what love is," he added.
Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview airs Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on ABC.
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