Chris Hemsworth is infuriated by reports he has Alzheimer’s and was thinking of retiring from acting.
Chris Hemsworth is infuriated by reports he has Alzheimer’s and was thinking of retiring from acting
The ‘Thor’ actor, 40, made headlines worldwide in 2022 when his National Geographic series ‘Limitless’ featured a segment where he went for genetic testing that revealed he has two copies of the APOE4 gene.
It’s been flagged as a marker of risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease – and even though carrying the gene is far from a diagnosis of the condition, the web was soon flooded with theories the reason Chris had moved to Byron Bay in his native Australia with his family was to retire from Hollywood.
Ahead of being seen on the big screen in George Miller’s ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ – the much-anticipated prequel to 2015’s Oscar-winning ‘Fury Road’ – Chris told Vanity Fair about hating the gossip: “It really kind of (annoyed) me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this.
“No matter how much I said, ‘This is not a death sentence,’ the story became that I have dementia and I’m reconsidering life and retiring and so on.
“I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: ‘I hope Chris forgets he’s retiring and comes back.’”
Chris, who has three children with his wife of 14 years, the Spanish actor Elsa Pataky, 47, plays biker gang leader Dementus in the ‘Fury Road’ follow up alongside Anya Taylor-Joy.
Despite declaring he is very much back in Hollywood, Chris did open up about his run of doing 27 films – eight of them Marvel blockbusters – in just over 12 years left his mind and body such a wreck he would zone out at family meetings and spend his time complaining.
He added: “I’d been trying to muscle and beat things into existence for so long, out of obsession and desperation to build this career, and I was just exhausted. “I was worried about everything. Nothing was as enjoyable as it once was, or I had imagined it was.
“I was making back-to-back movies and doing the press tours, and I was married and had three young kids, and it was all happening at the same time in a very short window.
“You’re sort of just running on fumes, and then you’re showing up to something with little in the tank and you start to pick things apart: ‘Why am I doing this film?’ ‘Why isn’t this script better?’ ‘Why didn’t that director call me for that,’ or, ‘Why didn’t I get considered for this role?’ ‘Why don’t I get the call-up from Scorsese or Tarantino?’
“I had begun to take it all too serious and too personal.”
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