Chris Hemsworth, our favourite Thor, has revealed a shocking news about himself. The actor was recently interviewed by the Vanity Fair magazine, where he shared that while shooting for a docuseries for National Geographic Channel, he had to underwent several health tests for reducing stress level and slowing down aging process. This is when the doctors found out that he is eight to ten times most likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in future.
Hemsworth shared that two copies of the gene APOE4, one from his mother and the other from his father, have been tested with his gene and the result revealed that he is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s. According to National Institution of Health (NIH), one in four people carry a single copy of the gene, but only 2% to 3% of the population have both, as indicated in a survey last year.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. Brain cell connections and the cells themselves degenerate and die eventually, destroying memory and other important mental functions.
Hemsworth shared that he is currently working for ‘Limitless’, a National Geographic Channel docuseries, which approaches the mindset of pushing back on the natural decline due to age. While talking about the topic, Hemsworth shared, “My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy, or whatever for entertainment.”
Chris also shared that the news is making him quite stressed nowadays as he is thinking about his wife Elsa Pataky and three children, elder daughter India, who was born in 2012 and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, who were born in 2014.
The 39-year-old actor said that although the news did not come out as surprise because his grandfather has Alzheimer’s, the news literally forced him to face the reality of life, “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.”
