Chris Hemsworth shares a rare health update as he gets back to work in Hollywood and says at 41, he’s never felt better about his health

Chris Hemsworth has shared a rare health update as he returns to work in Hollywood, after revealing earlier this year that his career could be ‘killing’ him.

The Thor star has been a beloved appearance on the silver screen since his early days on Home and Away.

In May, it was reported that Hemsworth was filming the Limitless series in 2022, when he discovered he was “between eight and ten times” likely to develop Alzheimer’s than the general population.

Shortly after the news went public, the actor stepped back from Hollywood, as news reports quickly circulated that Chris was retiring or had already developed the disease.

“It really drove me crazy because I felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and was sharing it,” he said Vanity fair.

In conversation with Body + Soul magazine in the US, Chris said: ‘The imagined scenario is always worse than reality.’

Chris spent a year recovering from a back injury he suffered while filming Thor: Love and Thunder and coming to terms with his diagnosed genetic predisposition.

At 41, Chris said he’s never been more optimistic about his health, or about returning to the set in Los Angeles, where he moved in early October for a short film shoot.

“When you build or create all kinds of disastrous outcomes for things, it’s very difficult to make clear decisions with any accuracy,” he reflected upon receiving the news.

‘It is in the quieter moments of reflection and silence that I can make decisions based on real purpose and drive.’

He also celebrated his 41st birthday in August, marking the five-year anniversary of his health and fitness app Centr.

“I was going from job to job and getting stressed,” Chris said of his life before taking a break.

‘I always gave an extra twenty percent of my time. Sometimes it was just overkill, and sometimes it had diminishing returns.”

He realized that if he were to push his mental and physical limits, he would have to give something, and it was better for someone to be one film than his continued well-being.

“Maybe there’s a project I would like, but if I do it, I’ll be home less,” he continued.

‘Alternatively, I can see that I’ve been home enough to feel like I’m not going to work and full of guilt that I should be home. And that’s kind of the daily conversation that we all have in our lives, whether you’re in this industry or another industry.”

And so he planned to spend some time with his wife Elsa Pataky and their three children at their sprawling Byron Bay complex – surfing, dirt biking and horse riding.

Break or not, it didn’t take long before Chris returned to the cinema halls with a new blockbuster.

Chris walked the red carpet in Sydney with his twin boys for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in which he played the film’s villain alongside the indomitable Anya Taylor Joy.

As he gets back into the routine of being and staying in superhero form, Chris revealed that a key part of not burning out is “being a little bit kinder and gentler.” [himself]at the gym.

“I used to have the mentality that if I don’t crawl out of the gym then I haven’t worked hard enough, which isn’t necessary,” Chris said.

‘I’m also listening to my body more, being patient with the process and not just crushing myself in every session.’

The actor added that he continues to practice meditation, saying it’s a crucial — but never easy — part of his wellness routine.

He laughed when asked if he uses the guided meditations on his own app.

“I read a lot of sleep meditations on it, so I don’t go to sleep listening to the sound of my own voice.”

Chris made the confronting confession about the origins of his workaholic character in an episode of the Disney+ reality series Limitless, admitting that his career choice stemmed from a troubled childhood.

‘If I’m completely honest, I acted to get my parents out of debt. It could kill me. When I first started acting, my parents had very little money,” he began.

“Talking to my dad about when he can pay off the bank and he says, ‘Never, we’ll die if we have to pay it off,’ that bothered me from a young age.”

Despite having a net worth of more than AU$220 million, Chris admitted he still felt unresolved ‘stress’ as a result of his difficult upbringing.

After having blood tests done for the program, he was told that he is “between eight to ten times” more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than the general population because he is one of only two to three percent of humans have two copies of the gene APOE4.

Chris lives in a $30 million mansion with his wife Elsa and daughter India Rose, 12, and twin sons, Sasha and Tristan, 10.