Chris Hemsworth Is Taking a Hiatus After Learning About His Genetic Predisposition to Alzheimer's

He took a deep dive into his genetics on his new show, Limitless.

After nearly a decade of working almost nonstop, Deadline reports that Chris Hemsworth, the star of Marvel's Thor franchise and multiple action films, is ready to take a break. The actor made the decision after finding out that he is genetically predisposed to Alzeheimer's. He has two copies of the gene APOE4, one from his mother and one from his father, which puts him at a higher risk to develop the disease. In a recent interview, he said that the news made him reassess his life and he came to the conclusion that he deserves a break.

“It really triggered something in me to want to take some time off. And since we finished the show, I’ve been completing the things I was already contracted to do,” Hemsworth said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Now when I finish this [press] tour this week, I’m going home and I’m going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife.”

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Hemsworth learned about his genetic makeup on the fifth episode of his new series Limitless, which debuted on Disney+ last Wednesday. He stressed in his Vanity Fair interview that he was not given “a hard diagnosis” of Alzheimer’s, going as far as saying, "it’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation."

"His makeup includes two copies of the gene APOE4, one from his mother, the other from his father, which studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease," Vanity Fair explained. "One in four people carry a single copy of the gene, but only 2 to 3% of the population have both, according to a 2021 study by the National Institutes of Health."

In the interview, Hemsworth also spoke about the idea of leaving out the news altogether, saying that it wasn't something he wanted to have out in the world for the sake of entertainment. He decided to keep it from getting left on the cutting-room floor, however, because he did want the opportunity to bring awareness to the situation in case other people found themselves in the same place.

“Look, 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,” 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.”

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He went on to say that now, he's focused on being healthy and aware of his body and health. He's monitoring his sleep, fitness, nutrition, and stress levels now in an effort to be on top of any changes that could be happening.

“For me, 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 said. “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.”

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