After 35 years of wedded bliss, Tom Hanks is still gushing over Rita Wilson, the same beautiful 25-year-old woman who made him feel the “ka-boing” when they first met on the set of Bosom Buddies.
Responding to online critics who were attacking his wife for being “flabby,” Hanks openly expresses his love and admiration for the woman he says is “one of the most classically beautiful women who’s ever walked the planet Earth.”
Serving as one of Hollywood’s few examples of long-lasting love, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are still as adorable today as when they first met in 1981 on the set of the TV series, Bosom Buddies.
Hanks, a regular on the sitcom, met Wilson when she appeared in one episode as a devil worshipper who dates his pal.
At the time, Hanks was still married to his high school sweetheart Samantha Lewes, whom he shares son Colin Hanks.
But Hanks and Wilson – who both produced the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise – were destined to be together.
“Rita and I just looked at each other and – kaboing – that was that,” said the star of Forrest Gump. “I asked Rita if it was the real thing for her, and it just couldn’t be denied.”
In 1988, the star of Big divorced Lewes and married Wilson, his co-star from the 1985 film Volunteers.
Almost four decades later
Both now 67, the couple – who share two sons, Chet and Truman – celebrated their 35th anniversary in April 2023.
Over the past three decades, they have starred together in several films, like Bonfire of the Vanities and Sleepless in Seattle, and have supported one another with their unconditional love.
“I’ll never forget, we were standing on the corner of 57th and 5th in New York, or 58th and 5th,” Wilson said of her husband. “We were holding hands, and we were waiting for the traffic light to change. And he looked at me and he said, ‘You know, I just want you to know, that you never have to change anything about who you are in order to be with me.’ Literally, a wave of – if love is a feeling, or a cellular thing that happens to your body – it went through me, and that’s pretty much who he is, and how he’s been.”
In 2015, when Wilson had a double mastectomy and reconstruction after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she said she was filled with gratitude for her supportive husband.
“You never know how your spouse is going to react in a situation like this. I was so amazed, so blown away by the care my husband gave me…who knew it would make you even closer?”
And no one can forget 2020, when the famous couple announced at the beginning of Covid that they both tested positive.
