Chris Hemsworth Clarifies His Comments About Stepping Back From Acting Due to Health Concerns (Exclusive)

Chris Hemsworth is getting ready to celebrate his 40th birthday this summer, but he's not even close to slowing down!When the actor and his director, Sam Hargrave, sat down with ET's Rachel Smith to promote their thrilling Netflix sequel this week, Hemsworth was quick to clarify comments that got «sort of blown out of proportion» about him taking a step back from acting.Last fall, the  star told   that he planned to take some time off after promoting his unscripted Disney+ adventure series,.

The decision, he said at the time, coincided with an episode of the show on death, as well as one in which Hemsworth agreed to take a genetic test, which ultimately revealed that his risk of developing Alzheimer's is eight to 10 times higher than that of the general population — due to the fact that Hemsworth has two copies of APOE4 (the apolipoprotein E gene), one from his mom and one from his dad.

After learning the results on the show, Hemsworth said in a confessional that «the idea that I won't be able to remember the life I've experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear.»However, Hemsworth said, the decision to take a brief career break was not as connected to the genetic test as it may have seemed.«It all got a little sort of blown out of proportion,» he shared. «I wanted to take off because I've been working for 10 years, and I've got three kids that I want to spend more time with.»«Doing that show, each episode resonated in such a way that made me realize how life is just flying by, and I wanted to be still for long periods and more often,» he continued. «The information about the predisposition… allowed me to make all the changes — whether it be nutrition, my training, my mental fitness.