- Jeremy Renner wrote a goodbye note because he thought he was going to die after being crushed by a snowplow.
- In a clip from his ABC interview, the actor broke down in tears as he recalled his time in hospital.
Jeremy Renner penned a goodbye note to his loved ones, convinced that he would die following his snowplow accident earlier this year.
The 51-year-old actor, known for playing Hawkeye in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, was hospitalized after being run over by a snowplow on his property in Reno, Nevada, on New Year's Day. He suffered a collapsed lung, eight broken ribs, and a pierced liver, among other injuries.
Speaking in a new clip from his sitdown interview with Diane Sawyer about his injuries and recovery, which will air on ABC Thursday, the actor said that while he was recuperating in the hospital, he was "writing down notes in my phone" that he believed may have been "my last words to my family."
"If I was there, on my own, that would've been a horrible way to die. And surely, I would've. Surely," Renner said in the clip shared on "Good Morning America."
"But I wasn't alone," he continued, adding that his nephew, "sweet Alex," was by his side before the "rest of the cavalry came."
According to an incident report obtained by CNN from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, Renner was trying to stop the 7-ton snowcat from hitting his nephew, Alexander Fries, when it ran him over. The snowplow was initially being used to pull Fries's truck out of the snow but began to slide sideways.
—Good Morning America (@GMA) April 5, 2023
As he recalled writing the note to his loved ones, the "Mayor of Kingstown" actor began to tear up.
In a previously released clip from the interview, Renner's nephew said he wasn't sure if his uncle was still alive after he risked his life to save him, remembering that he "could just perfectly see" him in "a pool of blood coming from his head."
In the same clip, Sawyer listed the injuries during the interview with the actor: "Eight ribs broken in 14 places, right knee, right ankle broken, left leg tibia broken, the left ankle broken, right clavicle broken, right shoulder broken, face eye socket, the jaw, the mandible broken, lung collapsed, pierced from the rib bone — your liver."
Despite the injuries, Renner said he would attempt to save his nephew again "in a heartbeat."
"Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph" airs at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.