Chris Hemsworth Reveals Why His Wife's Brutal Honesty Is More Important Than Praise

While plenty of couples will say that kindness is the secret to their marriage, don’t count Chris Hemsworth among them. The Thor star has enough people telling him he’s great, but he looks to Elsa Pataky for the blunt truth.

“There’s an honesty, the north star of truth, that you’re going to get with Elsa,” he told PEOPLE. “I can show something to a bunch of other people, and they might be like, ‘Oh, great work,’ but Elsa will tell me if it sucks.”

He appreciates her “critical sort of assessment,” because she “knows who I am, and we know what each other can do.”

“Elsa’s honesty is my barometer for whether something works,” he continued. “I take that with the films I do, the commercials, whatever. It’s like everyone else can tell me one thing, but I know that I’m going to get the absolute truth from her.”

“And it’s sometimes dressed up in gentleness from time to time, so that it doesn’t shatter my soul, which I appreciate,” he added.

Pataky and Hemsworth celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on Dec. 26 in Fiji with extended family. The adorable couple posted photos and videos from their Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, as they, their 13-year-old daughter, India, and 11-year-old twin sons, Sasha and Tristan, sported Santa hats while surfing, boating, and hanging out at the beach.

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About a month later, Pataky accompanied her husband on his press tour for Crime 101, which took them to her hometown, Madrid, Spain. While Hemsworth values his wife’s honesty, Pataky previously said that one of her favorite things about him is “his sense of humor.”

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“If a situation becomes tense, he can always make me laugh,” she said. And when it comes to their marriage, she’s said the key to their success is their constant work on it.

“You learn a lot from the rough patches,” the Fate of the Furious star explained. “You have to try to keep growing together, making sure that your paths carry on crossing.”

“It’s about finding the fun, enjoying the little moments and remaining curious about each other,” she continued. “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.”