Tom Hanks praised his daughter E.A. Hanks’ candid new memoir, which detailed her “abusive” childhood with her late mother, Samantha Lewes.
“It’s a pride because, I think, she shares it with me, she’s been very open about what the process is,” Hanks told Access Hollywood at “The Phoenician Scheme” premiere last week.
“I’m not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal, as well as the curiosity, as well as, I’m going to say, perhaps, the ‘shoot herself in the foot’ kind of wherewithal in order to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about.”
“We all come from checked or cracked lives, all of us, despite the fact that part of it would seem as though she worked for some international well-known firm with a copyrighted last name,” the “Forrest Gump” actor, 68, continued.
“She knows that, and she leans into absolutely everything of it, and I think anyone who does that is a bold journalistic literary mind, and I’m thrilled I can say the same thing about my daughter.”
Hanks also explained that as a father, he realized who his daughter was when she was 6 weeks old, as he examined her “personality,” “temperament,” and the way she viewed the world through her “body language.”
The “Cast Away” star shares E.A., 43, and son Colin Hanks, 47, with Lewes, whom he was married to from 1978 to 1987.
Lewes, born Susan Dillingham, passed away in 2002 from lung cancer. She was 49.
In her tell-all book, “The 10: A Memoir of Family And The Open Road,” E.A. recalled moving to Sacramento with her mom after her famous parents got a divorce.
The author claimed that Lewes struggled with mental health issues and was often abusive toward her.
“She pushed me, shook me, pulled at my hair and locked me in a closet once or twice … 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,” E.A., whose full name is Elizabeth Ann, wrote.
She detailed her lifestyle at Lewes’ home, explaining she was never told to brush her teeth, and there was either loads of food or nothing at all.
She also alleged that Lewes would discuss her “miscarried babies” and suggested E.A. would “join them in eternal limbo.”
When E.A. was in seventh grade, she moved to Los Angeles with her famous father after her mom’s “emotional violence became physical violence.”
At the time, Tom had remarried his current wife, Rita Wilson, whom he wed in 1988.
“Rita’s not really a stepmother, she’s my other mother,” she told People in April. “When I say my parents, I really mean my dad and Rita, because they’ve been together since before I can really remember.”
Tom and Wilson, 68, share sons Chet, 34, and Truman, 29.
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