Tom Hanks made huge sacrifice for his 38-year marriage to Rita Wilson
Making a marriage work requires no small amount of sacrifice on the part of both parties, with each person giving away a part of themselves to form a greater whole.
This is even true for Hollywood A-lister Tom Hanks, whose almost four-decade partnership with actress and producer Rita Wilson began with him giving up a major part of his identity.
The pair first met when Wilson snagged a guest spot on Hanks' breakthrough 1981 sitcom Bosom Buddies, later being cast together as lovers in 1985's Volunteers where their romance blossomed.
Three years later, after Hanks had left his first wife and Wilson had canceled an engagement, the pair married. But before they could tie the knot, the later Forrest Gump star had to change his Catholic faith.
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He told Parade: “My parents divorced so often that I’ve seen a lot of different sort of religions down the line. My wife is Greek Orthodox and I’ve been converted."
Hanks' conversion has not been half-hearted either, with the Da Vinci Code star regularly attending services at his local Greek Orthodox church in LA, Saint Sophia's, which he has also made several donations to as a sign of faith.
The actor added to the publication that the couple's 'kids have been baptized in the same font in which she was baptized at our cathedral in town,' committing the whole family to the Orthodox faith, which is somewhat similar to Catholicism, but without the Pope and minor differences over scripture.
Some would struggle to make such a change in their personal beliefs, but in various interviews about his faith and marriage, Hanks has shared how his whirlwind childhood made the decision to change his faith surprisingly easy.
Having seen his parents divorce when he was barely out of diapers, Hanks would end up living in 10 different homes by the time he was 10 with his faith being constantly influenced by the various people coming in and out of his life.
Speaking to George magazine in 1988, Hanks said: "The major religion I was exposed to in the first 10 years of my life was Catholicism. My stepmother became a mormon.
"My aunt, whom I lived with for a long time, was a Nazarene, which is kind of ultra-super Methodist, and in high school, all my frends were Jews."
With what he described as a 'peripatetic' view of Christianity, or an outsider's perspective, seeing the benefit of his wife's religion and community was something Hanks did not struggle with.
That's because he sees faith as a matter of personal interpretation, telling Parade: "I still believe in being able to leave the heavens to those who want to interpret the heavens as they see fit.”
And with 38 years of marriage under his belt, it's unlikely that Hanks regrets his conversion. After all, when he won his first Oscar in 1994, he proudly told millions: "I'm here simply and only because the woman I live with shows me every day what love is!"
William Morgan