Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Alzheimer’s Revelation’ on Disney+’s ‘Limitless’ prompts actor to take a break: ‘It really sparked something in me’

After a career sprint of more than 10 years, actor Chris Hemsworth is ready to slow down. The actor announced in a new interview with Vanity Fair that following the revelation, he will be “taking some time off” while filming his Disney+ Original series. Unlimited that he has a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease.

This discovery was easily the most powerful of a series of moments during production that forced the actor to confront “the reality” of his own mortality. “It really triggered something in me that made me want to take some time off. And since we finished the show, I’ve been doing the things I’m already signed up for,” Hemsworth revealed. “If I end it now [press] Tour this week, I’m going home and I’m going to have a good bit of free time and just simplify. Be with the children, be with my wife.

Hemsworth’s medical revelation comes in the fifth episode of Unlimited, which debuted in full on Disney+ on Wednesday. Details of the diagnosis are as follows, according to Vanity Fair: “His makeup contains two copies of the APOE4 gene, one from his mother, the other from his father, which studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. According to a 2021 study by the National Institutes of Health, one in four people carry a single copy of the gene, but only 2% to 3% of the population have both.”

In the interview, Hemsworth emphasized that he had not received a “hard diagnosis” of Alzheimer’s disease, although the double occurrence of APOE4 is in fact “cause for concern,” explaining that “it’s not like I’m fired not.” ” of acting. But the actor whose grandfather has the disease, which gradually affects memory, is now 8 to 10 times more likely to develop it.

He noted during the Vanity Fair interview that Disney had talked to him about the idea of ​​omitting his diagnosis Unlimited, although he eventually insisted that it be reflected in the final cut. “Look, if it motivates people to take better care of themselves and also to understand that there are steps you can take, then that’s fantastic,” he noted. “My concern was that I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it and turn it into some lame joke of empathy or whatever for entertainment.”

The other silver lining of the Alzheimer’s revelation for Hemsworth is that by knowing even more about his sleep, fitness, diet and stress levels, he can now take concrete “preventive steps” to maximize and minimize the potential that he will one day develop the disease. get disease. . “The positive thing for me was, ‘Okay, if I didn’t know [Alzheimer’s] information I wouldn’t have made the changes I made,” the actor said. “I just wasn’t aware of it, so now I’m grateful to have the kind of tools in my arsenal to prepare as much as possible and prevent things like this from happening.”

Hesworth’s series, created by Darren Aronofsky for Disney+, explores the new scientific research that shakes up conventional wisdom about the human body and offers fascinating insights into how we can all unleash our bodies’ superpowers to fight disease, perform better and even slow the aging process to reverse This science is put to the test by Hemsworth who, even though he’s at his best as a superhero, is on a personal quest to learn how we can extend our health, strength and intellect further into our later years.

The actor recently took on his MCU role as Thor before the Thor: Love and Thunder and then appear in the crazy max forerunner furiosa and that of Netflix withdrawal 2 – Projects on which he has already completed production. How long his career break will last is still unclear.