Chris Hemsworth To Take Break From Acting After Alzheimer’s Warning

“I’m going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with my kids, be with my wife.”

Chris Hemsworth To Take Break From Acting After Alzheimer’s Warning

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth is to take a break from acting after he was found to possess a gene which is linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.


Hemsworth, who is best known for playing ‘Thor’ in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, was filming for a new National Geographic show called ‘Limitless with Chris Hemsworth’, which Disney refers to as a show about “combat[ting] aging and discover[ing] the full potential of the human body.”

In the fifth episode of the show, after running some genetic tests, a doctor told him that he has a predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease, making him eight to ten times more likely to develop the brain disorder.

His makeup includes two copies of the gene ApoE4, one from his mother and the other from his father, the strongest risk factor for the disease. One in four carry a single copy of the gene but only 2 to 3 percent carry two copies, making the Marvel actor’s case a rare one.

However, according to Alzheimer’s Association, even though this put you at an even higher risk, it is not necessarily a certainty, something that we only wish rings true for Chris Hemsworth.

“My biggest fear”

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hemsworth referred to the warning as, “My biggest fear,” and explained that, “It really triggered something in [him] to want to take some time off.”

The actor plan to spend some time with his family. He said, “I’m going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with my kids, be with my wife.”

But the warning does not mean he plans to finish acting anytime soon. He said, “My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy, or whatever, for entertainment.”

“It’s not like I’ve been handed in my resignation.”

Hemsworth, who just wrapped up filming the new Mad Max which was partly filmed in Australia, said that, in some ways, the discovery that he has a predisposition to the disease helps him with the process.

“For me”, the actor said, “the positive of it was like, ‘Right, if I didn’t know this [Alzheimer’s] information, I wouldn’t have made the changes I made.'”

He continued, “I just wasn’t aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.”

Disney actually offered the actor a cut of the show which would have removed the scene where he found out about his genetic makeup, but Hemsworth was adamant to leave the scene in.

He said, “If this is a motivator for people to take better care of themselves and also understand that there are steps you can take – then fantastic.”

However, for those looking at conducting a similar test to Hemsworth, Alzheimer’s Association explains that you should receive proper counselling and understand the information necessary to make an informed decision.

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