“Marriage needs constant work , and you learn a lot from the rough patches. You have to try to keep growing together, making sure that your paths carry on crossing,” Elsa Pataky told Hello! in April 2025.
“It’s about finding the fun, enjoying the little moments and remaining curious about each other. You have to be ready to adapt, and because there are situations that separate you, you need to know how to find each other again.”
Never has Elsa, 49, leaned on those sentiments more, as she and her husband Chris Hemsworth, 42, try to find each other again after a year spent largely on opposite sides of the world.
“Everyone’s worried about Chris and Elsa. They’ve been torn apart by their various work projects, him in Italy and the UK and Elsa’s big Spanish comeback that’s kept her either holding the fort in Australia or filming in Spain,” says an insider of the usually devoted couple who share three children, India, 13, and twins Sasha and Tristan, 11.
“It’s been incredibly difficult juggling everything and unfortunately the biggest price they’re paying is barely spending time together.”
TORN APART
Indeed, in a December 2025 interview with the On Purpose eith Jay Shetty Podcast, Chris also alluded to the pair having to work at their marriage, explaining he and Elsa had made it through the tough times by spending time together and “having fun”.
“Both having a sort of adventurous spirit, making time for one another,” he explained. “I think the complicated times have been when it’s been all work, all kids, and all of a sudden the ‘us’ in the relationship is sort of non-existent.
“You’re just kind of managing a household or the work-family schedule. Elsa will be off at work, and I’ll be off at work, and then it’s chaos with kid time, and so sort of removing ourselves from all of that and just having time for the two of us and making space for each other rather than the rest of the world that can be so all-consuming.
“We have no excuse as far as how much time we can make for each other due to the support we can get due to our situation,” the star went on, adding that staying curious was important to them.
“There’s always that spark and that attraction, but what it comes down to is friendship and companionship at the end,” he said. “The moment you run out of things to talk about, you lack that curiosity and interest in one another; that’s when it’s concerning, I think that’s kept us in check.”
Like Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban once did, Chris and Elsa have tried to stick to a rule of never being apart for more than two weeks, but the Spanish actress has admitted it’s not always easy.
“We try, although it’s harder now, because the children are older and have opinions on what they want to do, whereas when they’re little, you can take them with you wherever you want,” she told Hello.
PUTTING THE KIDS FIRST
This year, the couple have focused on being the best parents they can be, with Elsa taking daughter India on the trip of a lifetime, an eight-day horse-riding tour in the Namib Desert.
She then took the full brood to visit family in Madrid and to Paris, sharing a slew of happy family snaps to social media, which Chris didn’t feature in.
Meanwhile, Chris was spotted attending Wimbledon in London and partying up a storm in Ibiza, being pictured aboard a luxury yacht with an A-list entourage, including Matt Damon, Rita Ora, Taika Waititi and Chris’ brother Liam, who was also celebrating his engagement to long-term girlfriend Gabriella Brooks, 29, with Elsa noticeably absent.
Our source adds, “They’re not walking away and seem just as devoted to each other, but there are a lot of red flags that Chris and Elsa may be heading down the same path as Nicole and Keith. Everything seems to go OK until the less-famous partner decides to refocus on their career. All of sudden, as with Keith and now Elsa, they’re living separate lives.”
“The last thing Chris wants to do is hold Elsa back – she put aside a lucrative career in Spain to raise their kids. Now they’re older and into teenage independence, she deserves to pick up where she left off.”
“Except for ongoing commitments like Thor, Chris is careful what projects he takes on. With Elsa’s big career comeback in Spain and her production company launch in Australia, Chris is happy to throw his weight around and make Hollywood work around him. It’s why a lot of his productions are made in Australia, even the upcoming Extraction TV spin-off for Netflix.
“It still doesn’t solve the problem of when they get to spend time together, because the kids’ world is in Australia – and one of them has to be there during the school year. If anything, Nicole and Keith’s split has been a warning to put more effort into their relationship.”
