Tom Hanks has spoken out following the release of his daughter Elizabeth Ann Hanks's memoir, in which she detailed a childhood marked by emotional and physical violence. The 68-year-old actor told Access Hollywood that he was not surprised by his daughter's candor, noting that she had been 'very open' with the family about the writing process.
In her book, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, Elizabeth, known as E.A., recounts how her mother Samantha Lewes moved the family to Sacramento after divorcing Tom in 1987. She describes living in a house with a pool and a bedroom decorated with horse pictures, but conditions deteriorated as her mother's health worsened, with the backyard becoming full of dog excrement and the fridge often bare.
E.A. writes that from ages five to 14, her life in Sacramento was filled with 'confusion, violence, deprivation, and love.' She recalls an incident where her mother's 'emotional violence became physical violence,' prompting her to move to Los Angeles to live with her father during seventh grade. She believes her mother may have suffered from bipolar disorder, though it was never diagnosed.
Tom, who was married to Samantha from 1978 to 1987, expressed pride in his daughter's honesty. He and his current wife, Rita Wilson, have two sons, Chet and Truman. The memoir is set around a road trip E.A. took after her mother's death, retracing a journey they made together along Interstate 10.
