11/22/2022
We are wishing Chris Hemsworth and family well as he continues to navigate his health.
Chris Hemsworth will take a break from acting following the revelation on his show Limitless that he's pre-disposed to developing Alzheimer's.
The 39-year-old Australian actor learned he had two copies of the gene ApoE4, inherited from both his parents, after undergoing tests as part of his Disney+ documentary series Limitless.
Those tests confirmed his “biggest fear”, Hemsworth told Vanity Fair in an interview, showing he is among just 2-3% of the population who are as much as 10 times more likely to develop the disease than those without both copies of the gene.
“If you look at Alzheimer’s prevention, the benefit of preventative steps is that it affects the rest of your life,” he said. “It’s all about sleep management, stress management, nutrition, movement, fitness. It’s all kind of the same tools that need to be applied in a consistent way.”
He clarified that this wasn’t a diagnosis: “It’s not a pre-deterministic gene, but it is a strong indication. Ten years ago, I think it was more thought of as determinant.”
The actor said the documentary series creator, Darren Aronofsky, and one of the doctors on the show, Peter Attia, discussed how the diagnosis would be covered. It had initially been the plan that the actor receive all his genetic test results live to camera – but Aronofsky told him privately once they got the results.
