Brave Chris: WHY I'M GIVING UP ACTING

In the wake of a scary medical diagnosis, Chris Hemsworth focuses on spending time with his family.

It was the moment the man who plays a god learned he is mortal. In a scene from his Disney+ reality series, Limitless, Chris Hemsworth listened somberly, his hand over his mouth, as a doctor explained that genetic tests indicated he is up to 10 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. "You're constantly thinking you're going to live forever, and then to all of a sudden be told, 'This may be the thing that might take you out' was like, Whoa!" Chris confided. "It kind of floored me for a minute. This news changes things."

It changed everything. "It really triggered something in me to want to take some time off," says the Thor star, 39. "And since we finished the show, I've been completing the things I was already contracted to do. I'm going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife."

That's his No. 1 priority. "Family is everything to Chris," an insider says of his wife, Elsa Pataky, 46, daughter India, 10, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, 9. "And despite his untraditional work schedule, they have a relatively normal life."

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