Tom Hanks’ daughter details childhood she claims was filled with disturbing 'violence'
Elizabeth Hanks, the daughter of legendary actor Tom Hanks, has opened up on her seemingly turbulent childhood in a new memoir.
The Saving Private Ryan star had Elizabeth and brother Colin with his ex-wife, the late Samantha Lewes.
Hanks went on to welcome two more children – Chet and Truman Hanks – with his current spouse Rita Wilson.
Hanks and Lewes went their separate ways in 1985, with Elizabeth, who now goes by E.A. for Elizabeth Anne, detailing what life was like back then in her new book, The 10: A Memoir of Family And The Open Road.
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In an excerpt obtained by People, E.A. penned: "I am a kid from the First (non-famous) Marriage. My only memories of my parents in the same place at the same time are Colin’s high school graduation, then my high school graduation.
"I have one picture of me standing between my parents. In it, my mother’s best wig is slightly askew."
E.A. then wrote about her childhood and the disturbing 'violence' she endured.
"Eventually a divorce agreement was settled, and I would visit my dad and stepmother (and soon enough my younger half brothers) on the weekends and during summers, but from 5 to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love, I was a Sacramento girl," she continued.
"I lived in a white house with columns, a backyard with a pool, and a bedroom with pictures of horses plastered on every wall."
Speaking further about her mother's mental wellbeing, who died in 2002 from cancer, E.A. added: "The backyard became so full of dog s**t that you couldn’t walk around it, the house stank of smoke.
"The fridge was bare or full of expired food more often than not, and my mother spent more and more time in her big four-poster bed, poring over the Bible.
"One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath, I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade."
E.A continued: "When I was 14, my mother and I drove across America along Interstate 10 to Florida, in a Winnebago that lumbered along the asphalt with a rolling gait that felt nautical.
"My senior year of high school, she called to say she was dying."
For those hoping to read the memoir in full, you won't have to wait long as The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road releases on Tuesday (April 8).
Callum Jones