Chris Hemsworth is said to be slowing down after learning he’s at “high risk” of Alzheimer’s as he ages.
The ‘Thor’ actor, 39, discovered he could be vulnerable in later life to the degenerative disease while he filmed his National Geographic and Disney+ docu-series ‘Limitless’, and sources say even though he is planning to keep an eye on his Hollywood workload, he is not considering early retirement for the sake of his health.
An insider told Page Six that“he doesn’t plan to take on many roles because of (learning about his high risk of) Alzheimer’s” after he finishes four upcoming projects, which include reprising his Thor role in an upcoming ‘Avengers’ sequel, and a part in an untitled biopic of wrestling icon Hulk Hogan.
Hemsworth has children India, 10, and nine-year-old twins Tristan and Sasha with his ‘Snakes on a Plane’ actress wife Elsa Pataky, 46.
The actor has told Vanity Fair he is “not talking about retiring by any means” due to his Alzheimer’s warning.
But he admitted to the magazine there was an “intensity” in “navigating” the test results that showed he was at high risk of the disease, which he got last November.
He stressed it was not a diagnosis and only a sign the neuro-degenerative condition is more likely to be in his future than it is for most other people.
Hemsworth added: “Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death. 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.”
The actor also said learning he’s “eight to 10 times more likely” to battle Alzheimer’s than others had “triggered something in me to want to take some time off”.
He added: “I’ve been completing the things I was already contracted to do.”
Among them is a plan to “go home and to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify”, as well as “be with the kids, be with my wife”.