In 2022, it was revealed that Chris Hemsworth learned through his NatGeo docuseries Limitless that he carried two strains of the APOE4 gene, meaning he has a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's disease.
Chris recently reflected on that time, saying he was "pissed" off by misinterpretations of his health and career following the report.
According to the National Institute on Aging, carrying the APOE4 gene is "the strongest risk factor" for Alzheimer's, but it is not a diagnosis of the disease.
As he told Vanity Fair in a new interview published Tuesday, Chris took issue with erroneous beliefs at the time of his health update that he had been diagnosed with dementia and was retiring from acting.
"It really kind of pissed me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this," he said.
“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 continued.
This isn't the first time Chris has expressed his dismay with the response to his genetic risk factor. In 2023, he told Entertainment Weekly that "two headlines got coupled together," identifying that the health update was made public while he was on a career break following his starring role in Thor: Love and Thunder.
"It got a little overdramatized, like I was potentially retiring because of this thing. Which just isn't the case," he told the publication.
In 2022, Chris told Vanity Fair he shot down a version of Limitless that didn't share the news. Instead, he chose to keep it in and go public.
"I thought, 'No, look, if this is a motivator for people to take better care of themselves and also understand that there are steps you can take — then fantastic,'" he told the publication. "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."
He also noted in the 2022 interview that he wasn't "talking about retiring by any means."
In fact, Chris has been the star of two films since Thor: Love and Thunder. Last year, he acted in a sequel to the film Extraction, and he's got another leading role in the upcoming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The movie will hit theaters on May 24.
