Tom Hanks Responds to Daughter’s Allegations of Abuse in Memoir
Tom Hanks has broken his silence after his daughter, E.A. Hanks, alleged that her mother, Samantha Lewes, was physically and emotionally abusive.
In her memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, which was published in April, E.A. claimed that her mother struggled with mental health issues after her divorce from Tom was finalized in 1987. In the book, E.A. details being hit, shaken, and at times locked in closets. She claimed that Lewes let their home spiral into messiness, with the fridge often empty or filled with spoiled food, as she sat in bed reading the Bible.
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Speaking to Access Hollywood at the premiere of his new movie, The Phoenician Scheme, the veteran actor broke his silence regarding E.A.’s allegations. "It’s a pride because she’s been very open about what the process is," Tom said. “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.
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"We all come from checked or cracked lives. She knows that, and she leans into absolutely everything of it,” he added, calling E.A. a "bold journalistic literary mind."
E.A., whose real name is Elizabeth Anne, eventually moved in with her father full-time at the age of 12, shortly after Tom married his second wife, Rita Wilson. Lewes, who was born Susan Dillingham, passed away in 2002. Hanks and Lewes share a son, Colin, in addition to E.A.
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