Tom Hanks Spilled The Secrets Of His 35-Year Marriage To Rita Wilson
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson appear to have the perfect Hollywood partnership. Their long-lasting romance is both cute and very touching. But underneath the glamor of an A-list lifestyle, the actors both seem like fairly ordinary people. And just like us normal folk, they've had ups and downs in their relationship throughout the years. April 2023 marked 35 years of marriage for the pair, and they've gone on the record about the secrets to their success.
He fell for her at a very young age
Believe it or not, Hanks apparently had a crush on Wilson long before they met. In the 1970s, she guest-starred on the TV show The Brady Bunch as Pat Conway. "I was actually at a friend of mine's house when [her episode] aired and I remember thinking 'that girl's cute,'" Hanks once said. The star probably never imagined that he’d eventually end up marrying her, though.
Their first meeting was not the time to start a romance
But Hanks and Wilson didn’t actually meet until 1981. Hanks was starring in the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies, and in 1981 Wilson landed a guest spot on the show. "One of the things, when we met, was that we just got along instantly," Wilson told Kelly Clarkson in 2020. At that point, though, Hanks was already married and a father. His son Colin was born in 1977, and in 1978 Hanks wed Colin’s mother, Samantha Lewes.
Sparks fly on a movie set
Hanks was also still married when he and Wilson co-starred again — this time in the 1985 film Volunteers. But that didn’t stop them from feeling an attraction to each other. Twenty years later, the actor told Entertainment Tonight, “When we first looked at each other there was definitely a kind of like, ‘Hey, this is the place!’ I felt that, anyway.”
The pair share their love with the world
By the end of 1986, Hanks and Wilson were dating and had appeared together in public in front of photographers to let the world know about it. Hanks was still technically married to Lewes, but they had separated and were divorced in 1987. Hanks apparently had some anxieties about his failed marriage, especially since the children he’d had with Lewes were still quite young.
