Evangeline Lilly says Jeremy Renner’s swift recovery is a ‘straight-up miracle’
By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent
Evangeline Lilly says Jeremy Renner’s swift recovery from his serious snowplough accident earlier this year is a “straight-up miracle”.
The US actress said that her Marvel co-star was “made of something really tough”, and was coping well despite his “highly traumatic” near-death experience.
Renner was crushed by the six-tonne snowploughing machine while trying to save his nephew near his home near the Nevada-California state border in the US.
The actor has kept fans updated with his recovery process so far, revealing that he had broken more than 30 bones in the incident.
Lilly, 43, who starred alongside Renner in the 2008 Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker, said she had recently visited the wheelchair-bound actor at his home
“He has recovered like a mo-fo,” she told US outlet Access Hollywood.
“I walked in his house and got chicken skin, because I was like, ‘Why are you mobile? Why are you mobile? What’s happening?’
“I expected to sit at his bedside and hold his hand while he moaned and groaned in pain and wasn’t able to move. He was wheeling himself around, laughing with his friends. It’s a miracle, a straight-up miracle.
“He’s made of something really tough, that guy. You’ve always been able to see that in him. He is recovering incredibly, and I’m so grateful.”
Lilly also said that Renner had shared intimate details of the accident with her, having been conscious throughout.
“He had a near-death experience that was highly traumatic and he was awake for the whole thing,” she told Access Hollywood.
“It really has stuck with me. It’s been days and I’m still having moments where some of the stuff he told me that he experienced and retelling me the story of what went on and things he could hear and things he could see.”
She added: “He’s got a journey to go through now. That’s what nightmares are made out of, and he lived through it and he’s on the other side now.”
It comes after Renner recently announced his new Disney+ construction show Rennervations, and said he was excited to share the project with fans “as soon as I’m back on my feet”.
