Jeremy Renner’s Parents & Family: Five Fast Facts You Need to Know

Getty "Hurt Locker" actor Jeremy Renner brought his mother to the Oscars with him.

Hurt Locker actor Jeremy Renner brought his mother, Valerie Cearley, to the Oscars with him in 2010 and he’s not afraid to say he’s a mama’s boy. The Avengers star enlisted the help of Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott to help redo his mother’s condo for a special episode of Celebrity IOU. While he has a close relationship with his mother, not much information has been shared about his father.

In 2013, Renner welcomed the birth of his daughter, Ava Berlin Renner, with then-girlfriend Sonni Pacheco. The two were married for less than a year and divorced in 2015.

One thing that’s important to Renner and his mother is family. During an episode of Celebrity IOU, Renner gushed about his mom. “My mom means everything to me. She’s given me everything and she sacrificed everything,” he said. “She’s showed me so many things by having my brothers and sisters after me and made me a better parent. All the things she’s sacrificed was always for us–for us kids.”

To find out more about Renner and his family, continue reading below for five fast facts:

1. Being a Father Is The Most Important Thing For Renner

Renner might be one of the most famous actors in Hollywood, but his daughter comes before any movie.  “This will be my daughter’s place in the future,” he said about his home when talking to Playboy magazine in 2015, according to ABC News.

“I own it now, but Ava owns me. When she drew her first breath and with that palmar reflex grabbed my finger, the thought came to me, if all goes well, this same scenario will happen when I take my last breath,” he added.

If a movie means not seeing Ava enough, he didn’t want to take it. “If anything takes me away and I don’t get to see her, I just won’t do it. I don’t care what you pay me,” Renner continued. “When it’s Daddy and Ava time, that’s all I do.”

2. Renner’s Parents Split When He Was in Elementary School

According to the Internet Movie Database, Renner’s parents were married when they were teenagers, but the couple had divorced by the time Renner was in third grade.

“They didn’t have a lot of money, and after the divorce, we moved around a lot,” Renner told Playboy magazine about his parents’ split. “Up until junior high, I thought a new grade meant a new school for everybody.”

Renner mused that moving around often led him to become shy.

3. Renner Refers To His Mom as a Rockstar

Renner made sure to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to his mom on Instagram.  “Happy Mother’s Day to my rockstar mom, Valerie! I wouldn’t be who I am without you and am grateful every day for your love and guidance,” he wrote on May 10.

The love for his mother is one of the reasons Renner decided to move her from Modesto, California, to Los Angeles. She was five hours away from her family and wanted to be there in person to watch her grandchildren grow up.

She was grateful to be closer to everyone. “Moving to L.A. and watching my grandchildren grow up instead of just receiving a video or a picture is the best thing in the world to me,” she said on Celebrity IOU.

4. Renner Has a Tumultuous Relationship with His Ex-Wife

Renner and Pacheco didn’t have the easiest divorce, with both alleging in legal documents that they abused drugs and alcohol in front of their daughter. Renner denied the claims, saying he hired a mental health specialist to watch him during visits with Ava to prove he was a capable and responsible father, TMZ wrote in 2019. He also claimed he took drug tests to prove his sobriety.

“The well-being of his daughter Ava has always been and continues to be the primary focus for Jeremy,” a rep for Renner told TMZ. “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’s statement was a response to Pacheco claiming he threatened to kill her and himself. She also alleged–among other allegations–that Renner had done cocaine on a bathroom surface that Ava could reach. Renner denied the accusations.

In March 2020, Renner requested to lower his child support payments, claiming the coronavirus pandemic has affected his ability to earn money, TMZ reported. He wanted to reduce his payments from $30,000 to $11,000, saying Ava’s “reasonable needs” could be met at that amount. He was concerned that Pacheco was using the money to fund her lifestyle, the publication noted.

“It is very disheartening that in a time of global crisis there is yet another attempt to reduce funds I rely on to provide for our child,” Pacheco told Page Six. 

5. Renner Wants To Be a Stay-at-Home Dad

If Renner could stay home with Ava that’s what he would do. When talking to the Independent in 2018 about people who still live a simpler life in Modesto, California–as opposed to Los Angeles–Renner longed for his hometown.

“I still envied those who could do what I want to do now – be a stay-at-home dad,” he told the publication.

While Ava knows what her father does for a living, Renner isn’t interested in having Ava get wrapped up in his acting. “She doesn’t need to see anything I do. I’m going to keep her away from anything I do,” he said. “She’s been on a lot of movie sets but she doesn’t need to see the output of what I do. I don’t care if she ever does.”

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