He’s known for his bulging biceps and sultry voice, but when he’s away from the cameras Chris Hemsworth is a doting dad-of-three.
The Thor star shares daughter India Rose, born in May 2012, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, born in March 2014, with his wife and fellow film star, Elsa Pataky.
And though he is one of Australia and the world’s biggest stars, family always comes first.
Speaking to Australia’s Daily Life, the actor confessed: “The biggest thing I’ve learned by having kids is that now I know what love is. I know what frustration is. I know the full gamut of emotions, good and bad. I feel I had just scratched the surface prior. Each time you add one, it feels like three more.”
In 2014, the family-of-five made the decision to move from Hollywood to the northern NSW coastal town of Byron Bay for a more chilled-out life.
“You’re a little bit too much in the eye of the storm when you’re living in Hollywood,” he explained. “Living in Australia, it’s also easier to detach myself from work.”
Speaking to GQ, Chris admitted that he sometimes wonders what his career would look like if he hadn’t married Elsa and had children.
“There’s times when I’ve thought, ‘Wow, because having kids is more important to me, some of my roles have suffered’. There’s definitely a couple of films I could’ve put way more energy into but I was like, ‘No, I’d rather be with my kids’.”
“I don’t regret that but I’m aware. You can’t completely dismiss what that pursuit does for you either. I often find myself saying it’s all for my family but in all this I definitely have personal things I need to achieve, too.
“The difference is you have to open yourself up and go, ‘Well, you had kids so you forfeited a bit of that’. It can’t be a truly individual, selfish endeavour but we still need to take care of our own. Now my identity is another team, another community – the community being the family. You have to adapt and be malleable.”
Like any parent, Chris wants his children to live a happy and healthy life but admits he feels “gross” about his wealth and aspires for his children to learn the value of money and their privilege.
“I remember saving up for a surfboard when I was younger. The surfboard was 600 bucks and I saved up for a whole year with Dad’s help. I didn’t even want to surf on it for fear of damaging it. It taught me so many lessons about appreciation and working hard for something,” Chris recounted to GQ.
“When I think about my kids, I don’t want them to miss that joy. Elsa and I talk a lot about how we instill that same appreciation and respect for things. I don’t want them to feel like they’re privileged in any way. The fact that we have money and their parents are famous, that somehow they’re special, that scares me because we grew up with no money.”
They may look cute, but Chris and Elsa’s kids aren’t entirely angelic. In fact, they’re little tricksters.
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon, the A-lister shared a video of his then three-year-old son climbing the fridge to find the lollies that had been hidden away from them.
But daughter India has her own cunning ways of getting her own way too and Chris recounted a time when she was around five years old and faked being sick to get picked up from school early.
“I come home later on and she’s running around the house, in the pool, she’s having a great time. I’m ‘I thought you were sick’ and she goes ‘I was just tricking, I didn’t want to be at school.’ She’s five, that’s going to be fun when she’s 16.”
Homeschooling during the 2020 lockdown was also “a bit of a challenge”, according to the movie star.
“They’re definitely winning. They like to combine gymnastics and various sports activities with maths or creative writing or whatever it is that I’m trying to teach them. Pencils are often hurled across the room and somersaults ensue!” Chris laughed to Sunrise‘s Natalie Barr.
Chris and Elsa were also very careful not to share their kids’ faces on social media, in the early years of their childhood, despite sharing regular cute updates. Whilst in recent months the couple have been joined by their children on red-carpets, Chris admits it’s something he approached carefully.
“The exploitation is something I’m very wary of. We’ve been offered things like, ‘advertise such-and-such and have dinner with your family,” he told GQ magazine in 2018. “There’s no way.”
The father of three has also re-thought his busy work schedule to spend more time with family after he learnt of his “shocking” health warning during the filming of his series Limitless, in 2022.
Chris learnt he is eight to ten times more likely than the average individual to develop Alzheimer’s disease during a conversation with longevity physician Dr Peter Attia.
“We’ve got every blood test one can get,” Attia explained to Hemsworth in the show. “And you’ve got two copies of APOE4. A set from your mum and a set from your dad.”
APOE4 is the gene that has the strongest correlation to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“The idea that I won’t be able to remember the life I experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear,” the Thor star candidly explained.
Attia told Chris, “It’s my belief that if we take every step possible, we can reduce your risk to that of anyone else.”
As Elsa and Chris’ kids grow up, it’s clear they’re walking in their parent’s footsteps. Not only did the couple’s daughter India, take a shot at acting, joining her dad in Thor: Love and Thunder, but she’s also taken a keen interest in horse riding like her mother.
In 2023, the mum-and-daughter duo even competed in the same event. “She is going to be much better than me in a blink!” Elsa wrote. “So much fun to share all these moments with you Indi!”
Whilst India seems to be taking a step back from the public eye in 2024, the couple’s sons have been regularly appearing alongside their parents on red carpets and premieres – even posing as a family on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Chris received his star in May.
