Key Insights

• Allegations: Yi Zhou accused Jeremy Renner of sending unsolicited sexual messages.
• Denial: Renner has strongly denied these accusations and countered with a cease-and-desist letter.
• Background: Yi Zhou is a filmmaker with nearly two decades in the industry.
• Legal Actions: Renner’s attorney claims Zhou sent explicit messages to him.

Jeremy Renner made headlines in November 2025 when a filmmaker named Yi Zhou accused the 54-year-old actor of sending her unsolicited sexual DMs and threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on her. Renner adamantly denied Zhou’s allegations and fired back with a cease-and-desist letter, accusing the director of sending him multiple explicit messages.

Below, Hollywood Life has compiled the whole story so far between Renner and Zhou.

Who Is Yi Zhou?

Zhou is a 37-year-old Chinese director, writer, producer, and model. Known for her documentary Between Stars and Scars: Masters of Cinema, the London School of Economics graduate has been in the film and performing arts industry for nearly 20 years.

As a model, Zhou has appeared in campaigns for Vogue, Uomo Vogue, and Elle and was on the cover of Vogue China Beauty among other publications around the world.

Zhou has also dabbled in entrepreneurial ventures, starting her lifestyle and fashion brand, Global Intuition, in 2019. She has also launched entertainment companies, including Into the Sun in the U.S. and in Italy.

jeremy renner you are going to hell pic.twitter.com/A7JvfQCo0I

— r (@fowlerfiles) November 7, 2025

What Did Jeremy Renner Allegedly Do?

Zhou accused Renner of sending her sexual DMs and WhatsApp messages over the summer of 2025. According to multiple outlets, Zhou claimed in a series of posts that Renner told her he was “open to a long-term relationship.”

“I believed in him, in the power of love and in the possibility of redemption,” Zhou wrote about Renner. “When I called him out privately about his past misconduct and asked him to behave properly, to respect me as a woman and as a filmmaker, he threatened to call immigration/ICE on me.”

Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye, Mayor of Kingstown) threatened to call ICE on his Chinese filmmaker partner in September, she told me.

I was shocked when I saw the text messages.

1/6 pic.twitter.com/P1LVVb50IP

— Josh Boswell (@JoshTBoswell) November 6, 2025

Renner, however, vehemently denied the accusations and sent Zhou a cease-and-desist letter after she went public with her claims in November 2025, according to TMZ. Renner’s attorney, Marty Singer, claimed Zhou came onto Renner and that when she allegedly tried to pull a move on him again in August 2025, he made sure she stayed in the guest room. Renner’s attorney also claimed that Zhou sent the actor explicit sexual messages. Renner also threatened to take legal action.

Were Jeremy Renner & Yi Zhou in a Relationship?

Renner claimed that he and Zhou had a “brief consensual encounter,” and that he had rejected Zhou’s advances in August 2025, a month after they first met to discuss her documentary Chronicles of Disney.

Who Is Jeremy Renner’s Ex-Wife?

Renner’s ex-wife is Canadian actress Sonni Pacheco. The former spouses share their daughter, Ava, together. Renner and Pacheco were married from 2014 to 2015.

Sunni Pacheco’s Allegations Against Jeremy Renner: What She Accused Him of

After Renner and Pacheco initially agreed on joint custody of their daughter Ava. However, four years after their divorce, Pacheco filed a request for physical custody of Ava and asked for monitored visitation whenever Renner had their daughter, according to several outlets. Pacheco later accused Renner of several alarming actions, including allegedly threatening to end her life and putting a gun in his own mouth before aiming to fire it up toward the ceiling, per TMZ.

Renner denied Pacheco’s claims. A rep for the MCU star told TMZ that 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 that the dramatizations made in Sonni’s declaration are a one-sided account made with a specific goal in mind.”