Jeremy Renner’s name has come up more in the past few months than in his entire career as an actor—and it’s been for all the wrong reasons. After starring as Hawkeye in the highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame, this spring, Renner had a chaotic summer plagued by drama surrounding the shutdown of his Official Jeremy Renner app, which had been invaded by an army of online trolls.
“What was supposed to be a place for fans to connect with each other has turned into a place that is everything I can’t and won’t condone,” he wrote in a message announcing the demise of his app (essentially a smartphone-based fan club with exclusive photos and videos of the actor).
The bizarre Jeremy Renner news did not stop there. The Hurt Locker actor also starred in three Daughtry-esque pop-rock music videos that literally doubled as Jeep commercials. Featuring original songs with names like “Sign” and “Nomad,” the videos are basically just different arrangements of shots of Renner dancing in a desert in very tight pants and driving a Jeep, also in very tight pants. Oh, and he finished off his busy summer by launching a camping supplies store on Amazon, offering products like beef jerky and crossbow arrows.
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Now, however, Renner is making headlines again, and this time the reasons are far grimmer than his very-online midlife crisis. The actor’s ex-wife, Sonni Pacheco, has accused him of disturbing, abusive behavior toward herself and their daughter. The allegations are part of a messy custody battle as Pacheco fights for sole custody of 6-year-old Ava.
Most recently, Pacheco alleged that Renner bit Ava, who was 4 at the time, in April of 2017. According to court documents obtained by the New York Post, when Pacheco noticed a bruise on her daughter’s shoulder, Ava allegedly told her, “Daddy bit me.” Page Six reported on Wednesday that the docs were filed in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles last week. The documents allege that Ava “explained that the bite happened when [Renner] was being mean and yelling.”
Page Six reports that in e-mails included in the court filing, the 48-year-old actor claimed the bruise on his daughter’s shoulder was from her seatbelt pinching her. Pacheco reportedly wrote back, “When… putting some ointment on her owie, Ava told me you bit her there.” The documents allege that Renner responded, “Ha. No. We do a nibble game called Ava burrito. Haha. But not a bite. Tell her she’s spicy. And the game ensues. Haha. Nibble game are fake nibbles.”
A rep for Renner described Pacheco’s claims as “categorically not true and another straight-out character assassination made by Ms. Pacheco and her attorney.” These allegations are just the latest in a barrage of alarming claims Pacheco has made (and Renner has denied) throughout the custody battle.
Earlier this month, new court documents revealed that the model and actress is accusing Renner of threatening to kill her and himself. As detailed in the docs, Pacheco maintains that after a night of hard partying last November, including drinking and cocaine use, Renner returned home where he allegedly threatened her with a gun and put the gun in his mouth. He reportedly said at the time that he “could not deal with her anymore, and he just wanted to be gone.” In another instance, Pacheco says, a nanny overheard Renner say he planned to kill her and himself because “it was better that Ava had no parents than to have [Pacheco] as a mother.”
The court docs obtained by Entertainment Tonight reportedly detail Renner’s alleged history of substance abuse and wild partying. At the time that the story broke, a Renner spokesperson told ET, “The well-being of his daughter Ava has always been and continues to be the primary focus for Jeremy. This is a matter for the court to decide. It’s important to note the dramatizations made in Sonni’s declaration are a one-sided account made with a specific goal in mind.”
Renner, meanwhile, has also filed for sole custody of Ava, describing his ex in his filing as a “gate-keeping bully who is using the child as a commodity and pawn in her struggle to control Respondent [Renner].” He accuses her of being “sex obsessed” and even sending nude photos of him to the custody evaluator, TMZ reports. It is a textbook case of he said, she said, and as of now, there is no end to the drama in sight.
The exes were married in 2014 and Pacheco filed for divorce later that same year after just 10 months of marriage. In 2015, they decided on a joint-custody agreement. Pacheco is now pursuing sole custody and asking that her ex-spouse’s visits with Ava be monitored. No word yet from Disney on Renner’s fate as the most expendable Avenger in the Marvel universe.
