E.A. Hanks is shedding light on a darker side of Tom Hanks‘ past that many of us were unfamiliar with until now.
In her candid new book, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, the actor’s daughter is opening up about her complicated relationship with her mother, Tom’s first wife, Susan Dillingham, revealing for the first time the alleged abuse she endured after her parents’ divorce.
E.A. said her father was supportive of her book, which follows her six-month road trip from California to Florida to uncover details about her mom’s dark past.
“From the outset, he has supported The 10,” E.A. told Vanity Fair in an April 8 profile. “Whether it was swapping cars with me, helping me pick out camping gear, or being the first reader.”
E.A. added that the Forrest Gump actor was on hand to fact-check her writing. “The conversation we had once he had read a very early draft was exactly what I needed to hear, which was that I had depicted my mother accurately,” she said. “This is what it was like to both love and fear her.”
In her book, E.A. opens up about Dillingham becoming neglectful, emotionally abusive and, eventually, physically abusive after she gained primary custody of her two kids with Tom — E.A., now 42, and Colin, now 47. Dillingham passed away from cancer in 2002, but it wasn’t until over a decade later that E.A. uncovered writing about her mom’s childhood that prompted her journey to Florida.
Tom was married to Dillingham from 1978 until they split in 1985, two years before finalizing their divorce. Hanks married actress Rita Wilson in 1988 and later welcomed two more kids.
In an April 8 interview with People, E.A. opened up about her dad’s second wife, with whom she moved in after Tom gained full custody of her in her teens. “When I say my parents, I really mean my dad and Rita, because they’ve been together since before I can really remember. They’ve been together since I was 4 or 5,” she said.
With Wilson, Tom shares Chester “Chet” Marlon Hanks, 34, and Truman Theodore Hanks, 29.
“And my younger brothers, I don’t think I’ve ever really referred to them as my half brothers, which I guess they technically are,” E.A. added. “Neither of them remembers a time when I didn’t live with them. I think we’re all kind of in that era of trying to get our own thing going and individuate and all of that, but we’re a posse.”
The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road is available now.
Before you go, click here to see celebrities who were secretly married before they became famous.
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