Stars Cancer, his son’s drug addiction and the coronavirus: all the trials in the life of Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks’ parents divorced when he was a child. This affected the boy’s psyche: he became withdrawn due to constant moving and changing schools, as well as endless “new mothers” who followed one after another. As a result, Tom promised himself that he would be an ideal father to his children and would never leave his family. And when his girlfriend Samantha Lewis unexpectedly became pregnant, the actor immediately married her.

He would later describe this marriage as very difficult. Tom took any role just to earn at least some money, and Samantha blamed him for not seeing his children. When the couple was on the verge of divorce and Hanks was completely exhausted, fate allowed him to meet Rita Wilson.

Rita and Tom met in 1981, but then disappeared from each other’s lives for several years. In 1985, on the set of the film Volunteers, they met again and realized that they could not be apart.

“It’s great to fall in love with John Candy. Life is a party – hey waiter, more papas fritas! So much fun, everything is so amazing. Rita and I looked at each other and – yup! – it happened. I asked Rita if she really had it, and then there was no backing out,” Hanks later said.

Rita Wilson waited three years before her lover filed for divorce from her wife. After a long divorce process, the actor immediately proposed to his beloved. However, it turned out that everything was not so simple: Wilson was born into a patriarchal Greek family, and Hanks first needed to find access to each of the relatives of his future wife, as well as convert to Orthodoxy. Later he says: “In her Greek house, with its noisy gatherings and the ability to enjoy simple things, I finally realized the beauty of the fireplace.”

The side effects of being married to Rita were very good. If before Hanks took any role and was morally exhausted, now his career was at its peak. Successful projects followed one after another – “Big”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, “Philadelphia”, “Forrest Gump”, “Apollo 13”.

Wilson, on the other hand, began to appear less often. She was engaged in raising sons Chester and Truman, but still helped her husband: she worked on the paintings of his characters, and later opened the Playtone production company with him.

In 2014, it was revealed that the son of one of Hollywood’s most powerful couples, Chester, suffers from drug addiction. Around the same time, doctors gave Rita a terrible diagnosis – she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The celebrities dealt with the trials that fell to them together. They persuaded the son to start treatment. “I have been struggling with addiction since I was 16 years old. At the age of 24, I decided to seek help. And after 50 days of sobriety, I can honestly say that I feel happier than ever. I am grateful to my family and everyone who cares for me,” Chester wrote on his Instagram (The social network is recognized as extremist and is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation).

Rita Wilson also recovered over time. Tom tried to support his wife during this difficult period: he suspended several important projects and spent nine months helping his wife fight the disease and recover from the surgeries.

Wilson, who said that she still managed to overcome the disease, expressed her gratitude to her star husband in particular: “With my husband by my side, with the love and support of family and friends, I underwent a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. You never know how your partner will react in such a situation. I was amazed at my husband’s care!”

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have been married for over 30 years. According to the celebrities, they are very happy. The actor admits that he and his wife get along without words and that she is his lover, friend and mother. For the sake of Rita, he changed his religion, quit his job during her illness, and she, in turn, always supported him and managed to turn a novice actor, exhausted by work, into a real star.

In an interview, Hanks admitted, “This woman loved me skinny, she loved me fat. She loved me bald, she loved me hairy. I know this woman loves me, so I’m lucky!”

Text: Sabina Abasová

Photo: Getty Images