In his memoir My Next Breath, Renner opens up about the intense hallucinations, painkiller-induced conversations, and his miraculous recovery—while Jamie Foxx shares his own brush with death and second chances.
Nearly two years after a life-threatening snowplow accident, Jeremy Renner is opening up about the surreal and often humorous hallucinations he experienced while recovering—one of which involved fellow actor Jamie Foxx.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new memoir My Next Breath, Renner told guest host Jelly Roll that during his medication-fueled recovery, he imagined sharing a snowmobile ride with Foxx. “Jamie Foxx was there; he was in my room,” Renner recounted. “Then we got up and went snowmobiling. All that happened in my mind. It didn’t happen. It’s good drugs — good drugs.”
The anecdote wasn’t the only bizarre memory he recalled. Renner also confessed to having a full-blown conversation with a curtain, further illustrating how powerful—and disorienting—his pain medications were.
Renner’s harrowing ordeal began on January 1, 2023, when he was crushed by a 14,000-pound snowplow while trying to stop the vehicle from hitting his nephew near his home in Reno, Nevada. The accident left him with over 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung, and a lacerated liver. He was airlifted to the hospital and placed in the ICU, but miraculously, he was released in less than three weeks.
In My Next Breath, Renner gives an unfiltered look into his recovery journey—describing his grueling physical therapy, learning to walk again, and what he calls being “the worst patient ever.” He recalled trying to escape from the hospital multiple times, dragging machines behind him with tubes still attached. “I never even made it to the door, but once they handcuffed me to the bed because I was such a pain in the butt,” he laughed.
Oddly enough, both Renner and Jamie Foxx experienced major health scares in 2023. Foxx, who was hospitalized in April of that year, later revealed in his Netflix special What Had Happened Was that he suffered a stroke resulting from a brain bleed. The Oscar-winning actor was left unable to walk and missing nearly three weeks of memory.
Foxx’s family acted quickly, which he credits with saving his life. “On May 4th I woke up. And when I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk,” Foxx said in the special. “And I was like, ‘What the f—, why am I in a wheelchair?’” His manager, Dave Brown, told him plainly: “Foxx, you had a stroke.”
Both actors have since made remarkable recoveries, sharing their stories as testaments to resilience and second chances.
During his emotional acceptance speech at the 2024 BET Awards, Foxx reflected on the in-memoriam segment that included his name. “That could’ve been me,” he said through tears. “But I don’t know why I went through what I went through. I just know I’m not going to waste this second chance.”
Renner’s memoir and Foxx’s standup special stand as powerful reminders of how fragile life can be—and how laughter, support, and purpose can carry someone through even the darkest moments.
