Filmmaker Yi Zhou is standing by her accusations in opposition to actor Jeremy Renner, who has denied sending her “unsolicited” sexual photos of himself and threatening to report her to ICE.
Zhou, who worked on the documentary “Chronicles of Disney” with Renner, dropped the bombshell allegations in opposition to him this week in a series of Instagram posts. In a single, she wrote that the 54-year-old “Mayor of Kingstown” actor first contacted her in June by sending her “a string of undesirable / unsolicited pornographic photos of himself” by way of WhatsApp and direct messaging.
The filmmaker posted screenshots of her alleged interactions with Renner on her Instagram web page together with photos taken with him, stating in a later post the pictures are “details” and she or he has the “metadata saved.”
Then, in an interview with the Daily Mail printed Thursday, she accused the actor of getting drunk and yelling for 2 hours throughout a dialogue in regards to the documentary at his dwelling. She informed the outlet she needed to lock herself in a room to be protected, “praying he wouldn’t come into the room at evening as he was actually indignant.”
She added, “I didn’t say a phrase, I used to be so scared for my life.”
JC Olivera/Selection through Getty Photos
Zhou’s allegations share some similarities to accusations from Renner’s ex-wife, Sonni Pacheco, who in a 2019 divorce continuing claimed he threatened to kill her. Renner referred to as the incident “one-sided” on the time, and in July told The Guardian, “It’s all of the salaciousness that occurs on the market. It’s clickbait, and it hurts my emotions and it dehumanizes individuals.”
Zhou wrote in another post, “After I referred to as him out privately about his previous misconduct and requested him to behave correctly, to respect me as a girl and as a filmmaker, he threatened to name immigration/ICE on me, an act that deeply shocked and frightened me.” On Saturday, Zhou shared a cease-and-desist letter.
A spokesperson for Renner told Variety, “the allegations being made are completely inaccurate and unfaithful.”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Photos for Paramount+
The actor’s lawyer Marty Singer additionally denied Zhou’s claims, labeling them “false, outrageous and extremely defamatory” in a statement to People. Singer additionally accused Zhou of retaliating in opposition to his shopper after he “rejected her romantic advances.”
Singer claimed Zhou and Renner solely met twice, as soon as in July at a resort in Reno, Nevada, the place they’d a “transient consensual encounter.” Zhou stated in an Instagram post on Saturday that their first bodily encounter was “not consensual,” including that “later interactions turned consensual, but the sooner incident remained deeply distressing.”
Renner’s lawyer informed Folks the 2 met once more in August, including that his shopper has not spoken to Zhou in over a month and has ignored her “sexually express messages expressing her love.”
“The true details are that Ms. Zhou has relentlessly and aggressively harassed and pursued my shopper for months with no reciprocation on my shopper’s half, aside from a single transient encounter on July 12, 2025,” Singer informed Folks.
Renner’s authorized crew has despatched Zhou a cease-and-desist letter of their very own, accusing her of “defamatory communications” and threatening her with authorized motion if she continues to publish “false, fabricated and salacious lies,” in keeping with the outlet.
The letter, reviewed by Folks, alleged Zhou “aggressively pursued a sexual/romantic/sexting relationship” with Renner and “has manufactured faux and outlandish claims … to generate publicity”
Nevertheless, Zhou continued to publish on Saturday, responding to People’s article saying “many ladies have spoken up about Jeremy Renner’s misconduct.”
“My intention isn’t retaliation however transparency,” Zhou wrote on Saturday.
