Chris Hemsworth plans to take some time off after discovering he’s at higher risk for Alzheimer’s

Since his acting career took off playing Thor for the first time in 2011, Chris Hemsworth hasn’t slowed down. The popular Australian actor has returned to playing the god of thunder on numerous occasions over the past decade, combining his Marvel work with other projects as an actor, as well as his staunch dedication to fitness, for which he brings a workout app along with his his wife, also an actress Elsa Pataky. However, after years at the peak of his abilities, Hemsworth has decided to put the brakes on in response to worrying news about his health.

As recently revealed to Vanity Fair, the actor will be taking a long break from his job once he finishes promoting his new National Geographic docuseries for Disney+, “Limitless.” And the reason, in fact, has its origin in the series. In the fifth episode, Hemsworth discovers he has a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s and, therefore, a higher than usual risk of suffering from the disease. As Vanity Fair explains, your genetic code includes two copies of the APOE4 gene, one from your mother and one from your father, which studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

Despite the troubling discovery that he’s 8 to 10 times more likely to suffer from the disease, Hemsworth remains optimistic. “It’s not like I resigned”says the actor, whose grandfather currently has Alzheimer’s. “I’m not sure he remembers much anymore, and he skips back and forth in Dutch, which is his native language. He speaks English and Dutch and then mixes them and sometimes even adds new words”. Regarding his case, Hemsworth says the following: “It’s not a predeterministic gene, but it’s a strong clue. Ten years ago, I think it was considered more determinant.”.

Even so, the actor decided to slow down after his experiences filming ‘Without limits’, which revolves around a series of challenges to explore the physical potential of being human, caused him to change his perspective for the future. “It made me want to take a break”he tells Vanity Fair. “Since we finished the series, I’ve completed the things that I had to do under the contract. But When the press tour is over this week I will go home and have a good break, to simplify and be with my kids and wife.”.

Finally, as revealed by the actor in the same interview, Disney offered him the option to remove the diagnosis from the episode in question, in case he wanted to keep it a secret, however, he insisted on leaving it to educate the public.: “If it motivates people to take better care of themselves and understand that there are certain steps they need to take, then great. My concern was that I didn’t want it to be manipulated or dramatized into exploiting empathy for entertainment”.

Meanwhile

Even if Hemsworth is temporarily retiring, that doesn’t mean we won’t have him on our screens for years to come. Such contractual obligations mentioned by the plaintiff refer to the sequel to ‘Tyler Rake’ and the prequel to ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’whose filming has already finished, and which we will see soon.

On his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hemsworth has acknowledged he believes his next appearance as Thor will be his last: “I have a feeling this could be the end of it, but this isn’t based on anything anyone told me or any kind of plan (Marvel Studios). You have a hero’s birth, a hero’s journey, then a hero’s death. a hero and I don’t know, am I at that stage? Who knows?”.

‘Limitless with Chris Hemsworth’ is available in full on Disney+, with six episodes in total.