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Marvel star Jeremy Renner is facing allegations that he sent unsolicited “intimate” photos and videos to a Chinese filmmaker and threatened to alert her to ICE. after she “addressed him privately about his misconduct.”
Filmmaker and artist Yi Zhou, director of the documentary Chronicles of Disney with Renner, made the allegations in several Instagram posts and in a detailed interview with the Daily Mail.
Zhou, 38, said she had a personal and professional relationship with Renner, 54, that made her fear for her safety.
Yi Zhou describes “terrifying behavior”
“Mr. Renner contacted me directly in June and sent personal and intimate photos of himself, behavior that public reports indicate is not new for him,” she wrote on Instagram. She claims Renner courted her through calls and messages and wanted a relationship. According to Zhou, they began working together on two projects, including “Chronicles of Disney,” in which Renner appears in “80 percent of the film.”
When the documentary was released last month, Renner “refused any public advertising,” despite supposedly having written agreements with Zhou’s Italian production company, Into the Sun Films. Zhou explained that she asked Renner to help her combat false fan reports that claimed the film was made by AI without his consent. However, Renner refused.
Threat with ICE and other allegations
“When I privately confronted him about his past misconduct and asked him to behave respectfully – toward me as a woman and as a filmmaker – he threatened to call ICE. This shocked and frightened me to my core,” Zhou wrote. “Such behavior is unacceptable and demonstrates the power imbalances that continue to harm women in our industry.”
A spokesman for the actor called the allegations “completely inaccurate and untrue.” Renner himself has not yet commented publicly.
In the Daily Mail interview, Zhou explained that Renner had actively courted her: “I didn’t contact him. I didn’t know his name, never saw any of his films. He used me and denied me and our work.” She posted a screenshot of a pornographic image that Renner allegedly sent her via WhatsApp in June.
Zhou also alleged that Renner drank a bottle of wine at a work meeting at his home in August and yelled at her for two hours. She ultimately had to lock herself in a room because she “feared for her life.”
Renner was critically injured in a snow plow accident at the beginning of 2023. In a later interview with Diane Sawyer, he said: “I’ve decided to survive. This won’t kill me, no chance.”
He was previously married to Canadian model and actress Sonni Pacheco. During a bitter custody battle, Pacheco had already accused Renner of drug abuse and making threats against her.