Tom Hanks is one of the few stars who has remained unblemished at the top of Hollywood for decades and has endured the test of time.
Nobody can say anything negative about Hollywood’s favorite “Mr Nice Guy.” On the big screen, he’s a legend. Off-screen, he appears to be the nicest man in Hollywood; a true gentleman.
But did you know Tom has been suffering from a “silent” sickness for quite some time?
Tom Hank, who played Forrest Gump, is only 66 years old, which is tough to imagine given how long he appears to have been alive.
The two-time Academy Award winner has built a reputation as a terrific performer as well as an all-around nice guy who has never let fame or fortune define him. In addition to being a cultural icon, Hanks is known as “America’s Dad” and is frequently photographed exhibiting goodwill to his fans and others he meets outside of Hollywood.
When we look at Tom Hanks’ childhood and upbringing, it becomes clear why he has maintained both feet on the ground despite his amazing profession and the millions of cash in his bank account.
Tom Hanks, who was born in Concord, California, had a difficult upbringing. He was a divorced child who had to move about a lot as a child; Tom himself described his life as nomadic.
No one apparently trained him on how to brush his teeth, and Tom was routinely ignored.
Tom told Graham Bensinger, “Maybe there was a degree of loneliness because really no one — I kind of like fell through the cracks and didn’t really have people per se who were taking care of me.”
By the age of ten, Tom had lived in ten different houses. Tom was surrounded by stepbrothers and sisters who came and went due to his parents’ many relationships and marriages “three or four times.” He has stated that if he saw some of them now, he would not recognize them.
“After our parents divorced, our younger brother and three older siblings moved in with our mother and father.” After that, we were herded back and forth. I recall times when we all shared a bedroom one minute and a vast, dispersed house the next. “At times, we went years without speaking,” Tom told the Chicago Tribune in 1984.
Tom discovered that comedy was the key to surviving his turbulent upbringing. He used it to earn acceptance every time he enrolled in a new school.
I used to be a nerd and a spaz. I was dreadfully, agonizingly bashful. I was also the one who would simultaneously shout out witty captions throughout film strips. But I stayed out of trouble. Tom stated, “I was a really good child and pretty responsible growing up.”
Tom began taking theatrical studies in high school after seeing a school play that aroused his interest in acting.
He admitted, “I had no idea acting was even a possibility until that point.” I had more fun than I could have imagined, he said.
After graduating from California State University, Sacramento, Tom began working at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival for three years. The young actor thought he was ready for another transition after studying everything there is to know about classical theater.
When Tom initially arrived in New York in 1979, he was cast in He Knows You’re Alone, a low-budget “hack and slash” film that was fully filmed on Staten Island. Although the movie garnered generally unfavorable reviews, it was a monetary success and gave Tom, then 24 years old, a lot of opportunities.
Tom first attracted the attention of Hollywood and reviewers when he appeared in the 1980 sitcom Bossom Buddies, but many would argue that his big break came with the Ron Howard-directed fantasy romantic comedy Splash.
Before earning back-to-back Oscars and Golden Globes for his lead roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump in 1994 and 1995, he went on to star in Turner and Hooch and Sleepless in Seattle.
When he first began performing, Tom was married to American actress Samantha Lewes. When Tom Hanks and Samantha married at the age of 21, their family expanded swiftly.
Colin Hanks was born to them in 1978, and their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1982.
At first, Tom and Samantha were deeply in love and shared many interests because Samantha had recently divorced. Tom claimed that his wife “had stories about having parents with lots of marriages and divorce and everything that can even beat mine.”
We’re both really pragmatic. We are conscious that our marriage could fail at any time; in fact, it almost did in 1984, he told the Chicago Tribune.
After nine years of marriage, Tom and Samantha decided to divorce. Because of the couple’s terrible childhoods, the choice to file for divorce was especially tough. Tom went through a really dark period and sought treatment three times per week to fight his negative ideas. In retrospect, his divorce was “a tremendously traumatic time loaded with emotion and unpleasant feelings,” he says.
Tom thought he had failed as a father, but after meeting Rita Wilson, who would later become his wife, he changed his mind.
He was initially apprehensive about dating seriously another woman so soon after his divorce. Hanks discussed his feelings for Rita when they first met in an interview with the “So Many White Guys” podcast.
“We got married, we made a commitment to one another, we adore one another, and we diligently work on our relationship… Not only do we love each other, but we also really like each other, like spending time together, supporting one another, and maintaining open lines of communication. That is always crucial.
When Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, it was one of the most difficult times in their relationship. Fortunately, the physicians identified it early enough for her to obtain treatment. Tom Hanks was without a doubt on her side at all times.
Unfortunately, this was not Tom’s first cancer diagnosis. Samantha, his ex-wife, died at the young age of 50 after a battle with bone cancer.
Tom, thankfully, has never had cancer, but he does suffer from another condition that has tormented him for a long time.
It is also difficult to identify due to the disease’s lack of visible signs.
The “silent” illness has impeded Tom’s employment, and he has been forced to turn off certain possibilities because they required considerable physical changes or the use of specific foods. The Hollywood star first detected symptoms of the disease in the early 1990s, but she had no idea what it was.
The physicians eventually provided Tom with a response following examinations and tests. And in 2013, Tom came forward to share his type 2 diabetes diagnosis in the open.
The 66-year-old actor revealed during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman that he had diabetes mellitus, a condition in which the body does not create enough or react to insulin as it should, leading to abnormally high blood sugar levels. If your lifestyle and habits are not changed to accommodate your diabetes 2, it can have disastrous and even fatal effects.
One in ten Americans, or about 37 million people, have diabetes, and 90 to 95 percent of them have type 2 diabetes. Tom, however, claims that when he was diagnosed, he was surprised.
Because many people with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms at initially, some media refer to diabetes as a silent killer.
“I went to the doctor, who told me that I had been dealing with high blood sugar levels since I was 36.” Well, you have a diploma! “You have type 2 diabetes, young man,” Hanks recalled.
Tom’s doctors had warned him about the possibility of having pre-diabetes earlier in his life. But he went about his business as usual, ignoring the warning indication. Tom felt like a complete stupidity when the verdict was announced.
“I thought I could get away with it by taking the buns off my cheeseburgers,” he told Radio Times.
“Well, it takes a bit more than that, I suppose.”
The main causes of his disease are his lifestyle and his family’s history of diabetes. It wasn’t exactly optimal for him to eat anything he wanted due to his DNA.
Tom added, “I’m a member of the American generation that has been naively dancing through the party and now finds itself with a disease.
“I weighed a lot. You have seen me in movies, therefore you are familiar with my appearance. I was a complete moron.”
Doctors advised the beloved actor to retain his adolescent weight and thin down in order to put the illness in remission. Medical professionals were optimistic, but Tom remained skeptical.
He then giggled and said, “I’m going to develop type 2 diabetes because there is no way I can weigh what I weighed in high school.”
But a lot has happened since the David Letterman interview in 2013. Recent images of Hanks show an apparent change of heart. Tom appeared on the red carpet at Cannes in May 2022 to promote his new Elvis film.
Many of Tom’s admirers remarked on how fantastic he looked and how trim he was. I think he has obviously lost some weight!
The 66-year-old appears to work very hard to keep his weight in check; in addition, he works out to assist in regulating his blood sugar levels.
“I make an effort to engage in one hour of activity every day. ‘So Many White Guys’ podcast: “That may be anything from a treadmill to a stroll or a hike with a dog, but it has to be one hour every single day.”
