The secret to seducing Chris Hemsworth
Spanish actor and model Elsa Pataky opens up about what her and Australian husband Chris Hemsworth — aka Thor — bonded over when they first met.
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Elsa Pataky lets out a piercing whistle, the kind that stops you in your tracks.
Sunny, the beloved pooch of Pataky and her Aussie superstar husband Chris Hemsworth, has escaped and the hunt is now on to find her.
Only minutes earlier, the Spanish-born beauty was having her hair and make-up done in her Byron beachside home when I mentioned the five-year-old Groodle had greeted me on the footpath.
“She’s out the front – oh my God,” Pataky exclaimed before dashing out to the street.
It’s no surprise she’s panicked.
A few months earlier, Thor’s dog made international headlines when she was missing for three days.
“The kids were devastated,” Pataky says of the power couple’s three children – India Rose, 7 and five-year-old twin sons, Tristan and Sasha.
“I took her to a property and she got zapped on an electric fence.
“She ran and didn’t stop. She was so scared.”
The latest Sunny search and rescue mission has a quicker resolution.
About five frantic minutes after Pataky discovered she was loose and whistled to call her home, the pet is found chasing bush turkeys down the road.
Pataky now resumes preparations for a photo shoot with Insider and talking about her new fitness and wellbeing book, hosting Monday mums group work-outs and plans to move into the family’s multi-million dollar mansion by Christmas.
Wearing denim cut-offs, T-shirt and bohemian-style gold jewellery, the 43-year-old’s youthful appearance is the perfect advertisement for relocating to the NSW north coast.
“Not living in the city takes you out of the business mood and running to everything,” Pataky says.
“This is just more gentle. We spend more time with the kids.”
The ultra-fit actor now wants to motivate and inspire people to take care of their own health, especially busy women, with her new book, Strong.
A guide to being active and eating well, Strong includes tips on managing food cravings, setting goals, exercises and recipes.
“I know how hard it is for mums who work,” Pataky says.
“They have kids, they have to take care of the house and they just become so overwhelmed that they are just like ‘when do I have those five minutes to work out?’.
“I think once you start you can get addicted to it.”
Working out is a topic close to Pataky’s heart.
A fitness fanatic for nearly three decades, the Fast And The Furious star bonded with Hemsworth, 36, over their passion for exercising.
“That was one of the things we loved about each other and we shared,” she says.
“Before having kids, our favourite days were going to the gym together.
“He loved to surf and I started surfing too because I wanted to spend time with him.
“Then we had kids and we took turns.
I was like ‘you stay with the kids — I’m going to the gym’.”
Pataky devotes a section in her new book to Training With A Partner where she writes: “Chris is a perfectionist, even more so than I am; he knows what he has to do and he does it. It’s no wonder he has achieved what he has in his career.”
The couple, who wed in 2010, currently have a “little gym” at their house and according to Pataky “it has the basic things that we like”.
Each Monday, Pataky said she “kicks off the week” with circuit training involving five to six mothers.
The warm-down doesn’t include cocktails.
“We usually end up in the beach, getting in the cold water, feeling great,” she says.
“Sometimes we go to lunch together.”
Her strict approach to nutrition also means no treats are kept in the kitchen — not so good news for her sweet-toothed twin, Tristan.
“If there is one lolly in the house, he will find it,” Pataky says.
Last year Hemsworth shared a video on Instagram of his son climbing a fridge to reach chocolate in a cupboard.
“He’s very strong. He broke the fridge a couple of times,” Pataky says. “He knows if we have chocolate or something, we will hide it up there.
“He’s always trying to find something but I just decided I’m not having anything anymore — for us and for them.”
All her children are now at school with India Rose in Year One and the twins in kindergarten.
“Suddenly you have your time back,” Pataky says.
With the beach on her doorstep, regular visits from Matt Damon and his family and the ability to blend in without any Hollywood fanfare, Pataky is enamoured with her adopted home.
Pataky and Hemsworth moved to Byron Bay in 2014 to escape the spotlight in Los Angeles for their children’s sake.
“The most important thing was getting them away from paparazzi and in LA, for example, it was in their face,” she says.
After living in a “couple of different places” since relocating to Byron, Pataky is hopeful the family’s new house — dubbed ‘Fort Hemsworth’ — will be ready soon.
Maybe in time for Christmas?
“We hope so,” Pataky replies.
Judging by the long line of cars owned by local tradies parked on the roadside leading up to the mansion, the finishing touches to the sprawling Broken Head property are in full swing.
The couple will be surrounded by family now living nearby including Hemsworth’s parents and Pataky’s half-brother. Her mum also visits regularly to babysit.
“I just have to call her and she comes from Spain,” Pataky says. “She’s obsessed with my kids.”
And following his high-profile split from wife Miley Cyrus, Pataky says Liam Hemsworth was also “going to come”.
“Having all the family here is great — it’s the best,” she says. “We’re really close to each other.”
Her concern for Liam in the wake of his break-up with Cyrus was highlighted last week when she was asked at press conference in Madrid about how The Hunger Games star was doing now.
“After a relationship that you’ve dedicated 10 years to, he’s a little bit down, but he’s coping well, he’s a strong boy and he deserves the best. I think he deserves much better,” she reportedly said.
Pataky will visit Sydney this week to promote Strong, her third exercise book but first in English, and it’s clear she practises what she preaches.
At the photo shoot for Insider, her athletic, lean body is hard to miss in the three different outfits she modelled in blustery weather — and all without any fuss.
Her husband may be known for his down-to-earth, laidback charm but his wife certainly rivals him.
“Thank you for helping me find my dog,” Pataky says with a smile, before jumping in the car to head home.
* Strong by Elsa Pataky is published by Plum, $34.99. Available in all good bookstores and online from November 26
Originally published as The secret to seducing Chris Hemsworth