Hollywood star Jeremy Renner has made sensational allegations against Chinese film production partner Yi Zhou. The actor, who plays Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, reportedly threatened Zhou to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Chinese filmmaker made the allegations against Renner in a series of Instagram posts this week. Zhou, who worked with the 54-year-old on a documentary and animated film, claimed he suddenly reached out to her in June 2025. On WhatsApp, via direct message, Rainer allegedly sent her ‘a series of unsolicited/unsolicited pornographic images of himself.’
According to Zhou, they formed a romantic relationship and worked together on two projects. However, things started to go awry during a meeting about the Chronicles of Disney documentary at Renner’s Nevada home. Zhou detailed to the Daily Mail how the Marvel actor drank a bottle of wine alone, and became ‘very angry’, and screamed for two hours.
“I had to share the location with my team, my parents, and my coworkers at Disney so if anything happened to me they would know where I was. I had to lock myself in a room to be safe and pray that he wouldn’t come into the room at night because he was really angry. I didn’t even say a word, I was so scared for my life,” she explained. However, she reportedly told a co-worker that she would be safe at his place.
What do the texts between Zhou and Rainer say?
Zhou’s alleged messages with Disney colleagues while the incident was occurring showed her calling Renner ‘violent’ and saying she was ‘concerned’. One person suggested that he lock himself somewhere. To this, Zhou replied that she had closed it and was hoping that Reiner would not be able to open the door.
“I am [so] Worried, he left alone with a bottle of liquor and screamed for two hours,” he reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Zhou shared on Instagram that when Renner confronted her about her behavior he threatened to call her to immigration. “When I privately confronted him about his past misconduct and asked him to behave properly, to respect me as a woman and a filmmaker, he threatened to call Immigration/ICE on me, an act that deeply shocked and horrified me,” she wrote. Zhou was born in Shanghai and moved to Rome, Italy at an early age. He graduated from the London School of Economics before moving to Paris, France to begin his career as an artist.
Zhou also shared what he and Renner used to say to each other via text. The film producer told the Mail that he had called her a ‘pig’ and told her to ‘go to hell’. He added, “You use all the apps to send d–k pics. No one said anything. Until now.” In response, Rainer reportedly said, “Immigration will be informed about you…”.
He did not show the mail the rest of the message which was truncated.
Jeremy Renner’s past controversies
Renner’s previous marriage was to Sonny Pacheco for ten months, later filing for divorce. They have a daughter, Ava.
Soni had accused Renner of threatening to kill her and himself. His ex-wife also said that Renner used drugs and allegedly left cocaine on the bathroom counter where Ava could reach it. Renner has denied all allegations and has joint custody of Ava with his ex-wife.