Chris Hemsworth isn’t going to let life pass him by. That’s why the 39-year-old action actor has stated that he will be “taking time off” after promoting his new Disney+ series, Limitless.
Following the production of an episode on death for his new docuseries, the Thor star said that he realized he wanted to slow things down. Hemsworth cited his daughters, India, 10, and twins Sasha and Tristan, 8, whom he shares with his wife Elsa Pataky, as the driving force for his choice.
“Doing an episode on death and facing your mortality made me go, ‘Oh God, I’m not ready to go yet,'” he said. “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 house, and I missed the window.”
He continued, “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. Now when I finish this tour this week, I’m going home and will have a good chunk of time off and simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife.”
Hemsworth said that he’s felt like he’s been “in a sprint for 10 years, and all these moments that were dream scenarios would fly by.” He added that there had been plenty of moments where he “should have been stepping back and going, ‘Wow, this is incredible” but instead “was inundated with other kinds of requests and asks and being pulled in different directions. [I was] not really enjoying what was right in front of me.”
Hemsworth consented to take a DNA test while filming Limitless, which found that his chance of having Alzheimer’s is eight to ten times higher than the normal population. That’s because Hemsworth has two copies of APOE4 (the apolipoprotein E gene), one from his mother and one from his father.
Hemsworth admitted in a confessional after receiving the show’s findings that “the idea that I won’t be able to remember the life I’ve experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear.”
And there are certain realities to face, such as the fact that his grandfather is presently suffering from Alzheimer’s.
“I haven’t seen him in a few years, but my other family members have, and there’s some days where he’s quite joyful and gives you a big hug,” Hemsworth added. “But my mum was saying he’s just a really friendly guy. I’m not sure he actually remembers much anymore and he slips in and out of Dutch, which is his original language, so he’ll be talking Dutch and English and then a mash-up and then maybe some other new words as well.”