Chris Hemsworth says wife saved his life in the Himalayas

HE MIGHT play a superhero on screen, but Chris Hemsworth owes his life to his wife Elsa Pataky in a close call in the Himalayas.

Chris Hemsworth said he’s lucky to be alive to promote his latest Thor film, after suffering severe altitude sickness in the Himalayas last year. Picture: Caroline McCredie/Getty Images Chris Hemsworth Confirms His Marriage is Sailing Smoothly

CHRIS Hemsworth can thank his wife for ignoring his bravado, and saving his life.

While he plays a God in Thor, the 34-year-old Hollywood superstar is clearly fallible in real-life, after suffering severe altitude sickness while on holiday in the Himalayas last year.

“We went on this three-day hike through the mountains,” Hemsworth remembers.

“We were a few thousand metres above sea level and my body just wasn’t acclimatising and adjusting to the change.

“I started becoming really short of breath, I had fluid in my lungs and I was trying to ignore it. I was going to sleep and my wife listened to me breathe, she could hear it in my chest, and said, ‘I think something is wrong.’ I was like, ‘I am fine, I am fine, just go to sleep.’”

His wife, Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, refused to listen.

“She got up and told the guard we were with and he came in and looked at me and said, ‘Oh God. We have got to get you off the mountain.’ So they strapped me up to oxygen and injected something in me and drove me down the mountain and let my body sort of acclimatise and adjust.” He pauses. “Apparently, if I was up there for another few hours, it could have gone drastically bad.

“I am lucky my wife was there to slap some sense into me,” he laughs. “She was the hero. I was in distress, I needed to be saved.”

Elsa Pataky ignored her husband when he told her he was ‘fine’ while he had altitude sickness. He’s lucky she insisted on help. Picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Speaking in Los Angeles as the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, the actor said he hadn’t experienced anything similar, but felt for his colleagues that had.

“Fortunately, I haven’t had that experience and my heart goes out to anyone who has suffered through that,” he says, earnestly.

He acknowledged the industry can be fickle, and he is often required to play into that. Once voted the Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine, Hemsworth says he accepts that getting his shirt off might be part of the job, but it should never cross the line into abuse.

“I was asked recently in an interview about whether getting my shirt off makes me feel objectified. And the thing is, it helps me pay the bills and look after my kids and my family,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “But by no means do I think everyone should have that same reaction, that’s just my feelings on it.

“Of course, it’s much tougher for women, or it’s far more the case with women being taken advantage of than there is with men. But I am sure there are men who have been in that situation as well.” (Notably, former Dawson’s Creek actor James Van Der Beek has claimed he was groped by a top-level male Hollywood executive, with Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Terry Crews recounting a similar tale last week.)

Does he find it irritating nonetheless that his good looks and almighty biceps attract all the focus rather than, for example, the important work he does for charities such as the Australian Childhood Foundation and Oceana?

“Sometimes it bores me,” he admits, “because it’s not the most stimulating thing to talk about and I feel it’s boring for someone to listen to. But if people want to ask it, then someone has an interest in it, I guess,” he says. “In the scheme of things, there are far bigger things I could worry about and complain about.”

Former Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has spoken out about being sexually abused in Hollywood. Picture: David Becker/Getty

Terry Crews claimed he was the victim of sexual assault by a high level Hollywood executive. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty

Though the subject may not be his favourite, he willingly shares the details of attaining his Olympian-sized physique for Thor: Ragnarok, his third outing as the superhero.

“It’s just a lot of training,” he laughs. “But I would say that diet is the biggest thing. And if I had to choose one, it would be what you put in your body. I have trained a lot harder at times where my diet hadn’t been as strict and I didn’t get the same results. Whereas when my diet is actually nailed down, I can train a little less even, because the food is doing a lot of the work for me.”

The hirsute star still looks like Thor, having just flown in from Atlanta where he’s shooting the new Avengers movie, Infinity War. “I’ve had this beard for too long,” he grimaces. “I’m really looking forward to getting rid it.”

Of his many roles, he insists playing father to his three kids is the most important. “I always wanted to be a dad from a very young age and would look forward to having a family, I think because of how much fun I have with my parents. My happiest memories were going camping with them and surfing with them and travelling around,” he smiles. “That is what I look forward to doing with my kids.”

His kids, whose ages range from three to five, are yet to master their dad’s skill in catching a wave and he says he’s most excited about the family “being able to surf together” when they’re old enough. “But they love the beach and they are definitely water babies and spend all day in the pool or in the ocean and I am happy for that, because that is what I want to do as well.”

The face of Hugo Boss cologne, Boss Bottled, admits he’s also not a typical celebrity spokesperson and is still getting used to the idea of incorporating a scent into his daily routine. “I would wear it on a special occasion if I am going out to a premiere or something with my wife. But the smells I grew up with were sunscreen, surfboard wax, coconuts and all things that are beach culture.”

Pataky, meanwhile, has put her career on the back burner, with the exception of The Fast and the Furious franchise. “We’ve tried to not work at the same time and next year she will work and I’ll have some time off. We love where we live in Australia and next year the plan is to spend some time in Spain,” he says.

How does he fare with parental duties on the occasions when Pataky is away? He laughs. “It’s very difficult. I try but it’s much easier with her help.” Smiling, he adds, “I have her on speed dial to get all the tips, techniques and secrets.”

Originally published as Chris Hemsworth says wife saved his life in the Himalayas