Jeremy Renner Says He Had ‘a Lot of Callousness Squashed Out’ by Accident: ‘I Feel Wonderfully Sensitive’ (Exclusive)

Jeremy Renner has a new perspective.

Just over a year ago, the actor was seriously injured in a plow accident, and in the months since, the star says he’s learned to embrace a softer side.

“I sure got a lot of callousness out of me with that machine,” he tells PEOPLE while discussing his new Super Bowl ad for Silk. “I was never bitter, but always perhaps a little more callous, a little tougher. And I just think those blisters have just been scraped off me at this point. Literally, I feel quite open and wonderfully sensitive and youthful.”

He continues, “I am blessed.”

He certainly has. In January 2023, Renner, 53, spent more than two weeks in the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries after breaking more than 30 bones in an accident near his home in Nevada.

The falcon’s eye the star made a miraculous recovery after that, and in April he even returned to the red carpet, where he walked with his 10-year-old daughter Ava.

Jeremy Renner and daughter Ava walk the red carpet in April.

Matt Winkelmeyer/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty

​Jeremy Renner shares photo of 53rd birthday celebration with daughter Ava: ‘Sending my love and gratitude’

It was his young daughter and close family and friends who encouraged him to get well, he says — and helped him realize how loved he really was.

“Everything just went right,” he says. “Obviously I had a lot of persistence, I had a lot of support, a lot of reasons to recover. That’s really special. There are many people who don’t have that much, [don’t have] those things to live for.”

Renner continues, “It wasn’t about getting better. It was about their treatment. That’s how I got out of my own way… God, the love and support I got from people, man. I just didn’t realize that many people cared about me so much. Maybe Hawkeye, they did. [But] just me as a person, that’s another thing, you know what I mean?”

Although the Oscar-nominated actor says he certainly wouldn’t want to go through something like this again, he’s grateful to have learned his limits — which are far greater than anyone ever expected.

“I know how far I can go. That’s pretty useful information — it gives you the parameters of your life and it’s pretty hopeful,” he says. “I overcame a lot and so many things could have gone wrong. Everything went right, every part of it. From my vision, to walking, that no one said I would walk again. I said, ‘Well…'”

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Not only is Renner walking again, but he’s also back to performing stunts, as he does in Silk’s new Super Bowl video, which PEOPLE has on set in Los Angeles.

“[Silk is] all about wellness, and I got pretty into it because it was forced on me as part of the lifestyle, which is great,” he says. “Now I have become so healthy.”

The ad is even more special for Renner because it stars Ava, who he shares with ex-wife Sonni Pacheco.

“It’s a beacon of hope for me and my daughter, and this is a new part of our journey together in recovery and in life,” he says. “Getting back into life in a different way, getting out of the hospital bed, getting out of the house, being social, just doing normal things. It means a lot to me and I’m very grateful to be here to do this.”

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Source: HIS Education