Chris Hemsworth is weighing in on the public’s reaction to news that he has a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s.
“It really kind of pissed me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this,” he shared in a Vanity Fair cover story, published on Tuesday, April 30. “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.”
He added: “I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: ‘I hope Chris forgets he’s retiring and comes back.’”
Hemsworth, 40, discovered his genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s while filming the Disney+ docuseries Limitless, which premiered in 2022. On the show, the actor was informed he has two copies of the APOE4 gene, which is linked to the disease. At the time, Hemsworth had planned time off from his acting career — which added to the headlines.
This revelation means Hemsworth is eight to 10 more times likely to develop Alzheimer’s — a disease his grandfather is currently suffering from.
Coincidentally, Hemsworth spoke further about his Alzheimer’s predisposition in a separate interview with Vanity Fair from November 2022.
“There was an intensity to navigating it,” he said of the predisposition news. “Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we’ll somehow avoid it. We all have this belief that we’ll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in. Your own mortality.”
He explained: “It’s like one in a thousand people [who have two copies of the gene] … or one in 10,000. I can’t remember.”
The Limitless episode which revealed that Hemsworth had the APOE4 gene was focused on facing death.
“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 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.”
In terms of his life changes, Hemsworth said he’s focused on “incorporating more solitude into my life,” while speaking with Men’s Health in October 2023.
“I’ve always been pretty consistent with my exercise commitments, but lately I’ve really felt the importance of taking time for yourself without any outside voice or stimulation and making time for stillness,” he added, noting that “meditation and breath work” have also become the norm in his life.
