Chris Hemsworth, of Thor fame, has found out that he is highly susceptible to developing Alzheimer’s disease on his new TV series Limitless With Chris Hemsworth, which showed him exploring ways to enhance his longevity and combat ageing. In one episode of the show, which is streamed on Disney+ Hotstar, the star was told that he possesses two copies of the APOE4 gene, one from each of his parents, which predisposes him to mental illness.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said, “They took all my bloodwork and did a bunch of tests and the plan was to on-camera tell me all the results and then talk about how you can improve this and that. I did not really know what to think. I was like, 'Am I supposed to be worried? Is this concerning?'. There was an intensity to navigating it. 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.”
Hemsworth said that the Limitless team had discussed revealing the finding to him on camera. The Aussie was also offered a version of the episode where they did not talk about his genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s but he turned it down. The information has made Hemsworth decide to take it easy. He said it has really triggered something in him to want to take some time off after fulfilling his current work obligations.
While the actor said he is more comfortable about turning down projects, it does not mean that he is hanging his cape and retiring from acting. He will just be taking a more curated approach to the roles that he takes up from here on out. Hemsworth has already completed production on his next film Extraction 2 which will be made available to stream on Netflix. He is currently filming for George Miller’s Furiosa which serves as the official prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road.
