We only learned of the dark side of Jeremy Renner’s marriage to his ex-wife Sonni Pacheco during their bitter legal spat in 2019. Although the former couple didn’t have one of the shortest celebrity marriages of all time by any means, their union was relatively brief regardless since Pacheco filed for divorce after only ten months of matrimony in December 2014. Although the former spouses had finalized everything by 2016, thus narrowly avoiding having one of the most drawn-out divorces in Hollywood history, their legal battle continued as Renner and Pacheco fought over custody of their infant daughter, Ava. 

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According to court documents obtained by TMZ in 2019, Pacheco sought sole custody because she believed her ex-husband’s alleged substance abuse issues could endanger their child. As the legal spat raged on, the Marvel star reportedly found love with fellow actor Eiza Gonzalez. According to an Us Weekly insider, Renner and the “Baby Driver” star, who is notably nearly 20 years his junior, appeared quite flirty at a Super Bowl afterparty in February 2020. However, another source insisted that they weren’t an item and were just casually hanging out at the party alongside plenty of other people. 

The “Hawkeye” star reportedly got into another age-gap relationship soon afterwards too. In January 2024, Jason Nelms informed the Daily Mail that his sister, Amber Monson’s, path had crossed with Renner’s, who is around 18 years older than her, at a club in 2023, and they’d started seeing each other. However, their romance went south after a fateful family gathering in honor of his Christmas album. To get a sense of what it all means, The List tapped into the expertise of Susan Winter, NYC relationship expert and creator of the “Love À La Carte Method,” for her take on Renner’s busy, post-divorce love life.

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Elsewhere during Jason Nelms’ chat with the Daily Mail, he also divulged that his sister Amber Monson’s now ex-boyfriend, Jeremy Renner, had lost his temper with her family when he invited them over to his secluded property in Nevada. Nelms claimed that the “Wind River” star insulted them over the phone when they had trouble navigating the complicated mountain roads, “And at one point he’s like, ‘What are you guys, f**king idiots? Do you not have a brain between the three of you?”’ In fact, Renner even refused to abide by the family’s request to meet them in the driveway because he was too busy relaxing. 

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According to Nelms, the actor wasn’t all that amicable in person either and appeared to have an air of superiority because of his celebrity status. Given all this, it’s unsurprising that Renner kept his relationship with Monson low-key. However, in an exclusive chat with The List, Susan Winter, NYC relationship expert and creator of the “Love À La Carte Method,” pointed out that the potential media backlash from their significant age gap could have also motivated him to keep things more private. 

“The older partner is often portrayed as taking advantage of the younger’s naivety by controlling the relationship and utilizing this power imbalance to their benefit,” she explained. “The younger partner is routinely cast as an opportunist, gold digger, or gigolo — someone in it for the perks, not the person.” The relationship expert also professed that the Marvel star may want to keep his love life under wraps to protect his daughter’s well-being since she already endured her parents’ contentious, and very public, divorce. Winter even described Ava as “the real love of his life.”

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