Tom Hanks’ daughter Elizabeth: She publishes memoirs with revelations

Elizabeth Anne Hanks (42), daughter of Hollywood star Tom Hanks (68) and his first wife Samantha Lewes (1952-2002), gives a deep insight into her eventful childhood in her memoirs. The book entitled “The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road”, which was published on April 8, 2025 and was written under the name “EA HANKS”, highlights the challenges with which she and her brother Colin (47) were confronted after the divorce of her parents in 1985.

In one excerpt, the 42-year-old finds particularly devastating words about her childhood. “I am a child from the first (not famous) marriage. My only memories of my parents at the same time are in the same place at the same place and then my own high school degree,” she says.

She only had a few memories of her early year in Los Angeles, her mother moved shortly after the divorce from the “Forrest Gump” star with Elizabeth and brother Colin into Sacramento, six hours away. Hanks describes a turbulent childhood: on weekends and in summer she visited her father and soon her stepmother Rita Hanks and her younger half -brothers. The years from 5 to 14 were “full of confusion, violence, deprivation and love”, quotes “People”.

It describes a home that was characterized by neglect: a garden that was pouring in front of dog droppings, a house that smoke like smoke, and a refrigerator that was often empty or filled with expired food. Her mother, who may have suffered from an untreated bipolar disorder, so increasingly withdrew and spent a lot of time in bed with the Bible.

At the age of 14, Elizabeth Hank decided to move to her father to Los Angeles, where she spent the rest of her youth. Her mother Samantha died of lung cancer in 2002 when Elizabeth Hanks was 19 years old.

It should take several years for her to work up her mother’s history: In 2019, EA HANKS undertook a six -month road trip along the Interstate 10 motorway to better understand her family’s roots. She took the trip to Palatka in Florida, her mother’s hometown, and helped her to reflect the complex relationship with her mother and her own past. She has now written in the memoirs about the trip.

Tom Hanks and Samantha Lewes met in the mid -1970s as students in Sacramento. Her son Colin was born in 1977, a year later the couple married. In 1982 Elizabeth was born. In 1985 Hanks and Lewes separated after five years of marriage. Tom Hanks married again in 1988: With his second wife Rita Wilson, the actor shares the sons Chet (34) and Truman (29).