Tom Hanks’ daughter talks about her relationship with stepmother Rita Wilson
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By CASSIE CARPENTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 17:35 BST, 8 April 2025 | Updated: 18:08 BST, 8 April 2025
Tom Hanks‘ daughter E.A. Hanks’ entire life changed at age 12 in 1994 when her late mother Samantha Lewes lost primary custody of her and brother Colin Hanks, and they moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles to live with him and his second wife Rita Wilson.
‘Rita’s not really a stepmother, she’s my other mother,’ the 42-year-old nepo baby explained to People on Tuesday.
‘When I say my parents, I really mean my dad and Rita, because they’ve been together since before I can really remember. They’ve been together since I was 4 or 5.’
The 68-year-old movie star was still married to Samantha when he originally met Rita when she guest-starred in one episode of his cross-dressing ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies back in 1981.
Tom legally separated from Lewes (born Susan Dillingham) in 1985 before their seven-year marriage ended in divorce two years later.
Hanks went on to have two sons – Chet Hanks, 34; and Truman Hanks, 29 – with Wilson (born Margarita Ibrahimoff), and they’ll impressively celebrate 37 years of wedded bliss on April 30.
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Tom Hanks’ (M, pictured in 2016) daughter E.A. Hanks’ (R) entire life changed at age 12 in 1994 when her late mother Samantha Lewes lost primary custody of her and brother Colin Hanks, and they moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles to live with him and his second wife Rita Wilson (L)
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Curiously, the 68-year-old actress-singer has never publicly wished E.A. (short for Elizabeth Anne) happy birthday on Instagram like she does with her sons.
Hanks wrote about her unstable upbringing with her mentally ill birth mother who died, age 49, in 2002 from bone cancer in her memoir The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, which hit shelves Tuesday.
‘One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade,’ the first-time author recalled in a People excerpt.
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‘My custody arrangement basically switched — now I lived in LA and visited Sacramento on the weekends and in the summer. When I was 14, my mother and I drove across America along Interstate 10 to Florida, in a Winnebago that lumbered along the asphalt with a rolling gait that felt nautical. My senior year of high school, she called to say she was dying.’
In her 352-page literary debut, E.A. claimed Samantha – who was likely suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder – would frequently let her and her brother go hungry as it was either feast or famine at home.
‘She pushed me, shook me, pulled at my hair and locked me in a closet once or twice,’ Hanks wrote in the book, which took her nearly a decade to write.
‘She told me there were men hiding in her closet who were waiting for us to go to sleep to come out and do horrible things.’
The former Vanity Fair staffer is next scheduled to bring her four-date book tour to the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday with a Q&A moderated by her famous father.
‘Michael Keaton and I preparing for our conversation @92ndstreety on April 8 at 7:00!’ A.E. captioned a Zoom screengrab on March 26.
‘Tickets in the link in my bio.’
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson at 2024 Governors Ball in Los Angeles
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The 42-year-old nepo baby explained to People on Tuesday: ‘Rita’s not really a stepmother, she’s my other mother’ (pictured in 2013)
+10
View gallery
She added: ‘When I say my parents, I really mean my dad and Rita, because they’ve been together since before I can really remember. They’ve been together since I was 4 or 5’ (pictured in 2002)
+10
View gallery
The 68-year-old movie star was still married to Samantha when he originally met Rita when she guest-starred in one episode of his cross-dressing ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies back in 1981
+10
View gallery
Tom legally separated from Lewes (L, pictured in 1983) in 1985 before their seven-year marriage ended in divorce two years later
+10
View gallery
Hanks went on to have two sons – Chet Hanks (2-R, pictured in 2020), 34; and Truman Hanks (R), 29 – with Wilson, and they’ll impressively celebrate 37 years of wedded bliss on April 30
+10
View gallery
Hanks wrote about her unstable upbringing with her mentally ill birth mother who died, age 49, in 2002 from bone cancer in her memoir The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, which hit shelves Tuesday
+10
View gallery
The first-time author recalled: ‘One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade. My custody arrangement basically switched — now I lived in LA and visited Sacramento on the weekends and in the summer’
E.A. is next scheduled to bring her four-date book tour to the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday with a Q&A moderated by her famous father
+10
View gallery
Hanks captioned a Zoom screengrab on March 26: ‘Michael Keaton and I preparing for our conversation @92ndstreety on April 8 at 7:00! Tickets in the link in my bio’
