Ken Lee (9) | STAFF REPORTER
Chris Hemsworth revealed that he plans to take a hiatus from acting late last month, much to the dismay of his fans.
During filming for his new National Geography/Disney+ docuseries Limitless, the Australian Thor actor (39) found out he has a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) through undergoing a battery of genetic tests to see what the future may hold for him.
His genetic markup includes two copies of the APOE4 gene, one from both his mother and father. AOPE is a protein involved in the metabolism of fats in mammalian bodies. The variant that Hemsworth has (E4) is implicated in a higher risk of AD, cardiovascular disease, and greater chance of severe malaria. Studies suggest that those with 2 copies of APOE4 are anywhere from 10-30 times more likely to develop AD.
Limitless, which shows the actor engaging in many stunts, practices, and habits to lengthen his life, in irony deals with facing death in the finale.
“I think that’s my favorite episode. That’s where I worked with the death doula and people who worked in palliative care and end of life care and then spoke to a number of people who were at the end of their days or coming upon them—even younger people that were diagnosed with cancer and didn’t have long to live.”, he says in a sit-down interview with Vanity Fair.
Hemsworth began dating his current wife, Elsa Pataky, in early 2010, and eloped shortly after in December 2010. The duo has a daughter, India Rosa, born in May of 2012 and twin sons, Sasha & Tristan, born in March of 2014. The family currently resides in Byron Bay, a beachside township located in New South Wales, in his home country Australia.
“Doing an episode on death and facing your own mortality made me go, ‘Oh God, I’m not ready to go yet,’” he adds. “I want to sit and be in this space with a greater sense of stillness and gratitude. And then you start talking about kids and family and going, ‘Oh my God, they’re getting older, they’re growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie.’ Before you know it, they’re 18 and they’ve moved out of the house, and I missed the window.”
The MCU’s Thor plans to wrap up his work in Extraction 2 and Furiosa, playing Tyler Rake and Immortan Joe respectively before going on break to spend valuable time with his family.
