Chris Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky have divided opinion after sharing a prank they pulled on their twin sons’ birthday.
The Thor actor took to Instagram on Monday 20 March to celebrate his twin sons Sasha and Tristan’s ninth birthday. In the photo, the family of five can be seen standing in front of a birthday cake as Pataky, 46, holds her son’s head down in the chocolate cake. Their two other children laugh while Hemsworth smiles and stands off to the side.
Despite the amused look on their faces, the prank sparked mixed reactions from fans of the 39-year-old Australian actor. Some people in the comments section said the stunt was just a bit of harmless fun, while others branded the move as “ridiculous” and “violent”.
“Why people smash their kids face in the cake is above my understanding but whatever,” read one Instagram comment.
“It’s so violent,” replied someone else.
Another person asked: “whhhyyyyy do people think this is funny”
However, one Instagram user came to the family’s defence when they said: “Because it’s funny and a family tradition and it gives kids a memory to laugh at and then they look forward to it happening to their siblings and they share the joy. Just a bit of basic humour…..”
“They look like they are having a good time together,” another person pointed out, while someone else commented: “To each their own, you might see it as ridiculous, but they are obviously enjoying it, stop judging people based on yourself, you need to understand not everyone is like you.”
In addition to their nine-year-old twin sons, Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky are also parents to daughter India, who was born in 2012. The Marvel star and the Spanish actress first met in 2010 and were shortly married that same year. Two years after welcoming their daughter India Rose in May 2012, the couple announced they were expecting twins.
The family of five soon relocated from Los Angeles to Australia where they currently in the southeastern coastal town of Byron Bay in New South Wales.
Chris Hemsworth has often given fans a glimpse into his hectic personal life, in which he balances both his acting career and being a father of three. While filming the most recent Thor installment, Thor: Love and Thunder, Hemsworth revealed that his 10-year-old daughter made her acting debut as the daughter of Gorr, a supervillain played by Christian Bale.
Last July, the action star shared two photos of himself with India to Instagram – one that was taken “the first time she was on set 11 years ago” and the other that was captured during her recent cameo on set. “Here’s two pics of me and my daughter,” he captioned the sweet post. “One was the first time she was on set 11 years ago, the other is the most recent on Thor: Love and Thunder. She’s my favourite superhero.”
Despite her inexperience, Hemsworth has said that India ignored any acting advice he could offer his daughter. “It was just like when I’m at home, trying to tell her to do anything, she’s like, ‘Pfft, no, I’ll do it my way’,” Hemsworth said last July ahead of the film’s release.
However, he decided that India was right to ignore his “nervous” advice: “And power to her, good on her, because she did an incredible job,” he said.
India Rose isn’t the only member of the Hemsworth-Pataky clan who makes a cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder. His son Tristan can also be seen in the film playing a young version of his father’s titular character.
