Tom Hanks’ Son Chet Says He ‘Didn’t Have a Strong Male Role Model’ Growing Up

Chet Hanks is opening up about growing up the son of Hollywood A-listers Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. The 31-year-old opened up about the difficulties he experienced as someone without a “strong male role model” to show him how to navigate life in the spotlight in a new YouTube video shared Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of advantages but sometimes it can be pretty weird. I got to do a lot of cool s- that a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to do,” Chet explained of being born into fame. “I got to travel the world, stay in nice hotels, fly on private planes and I’m very blessed for that. I wouldn’t change my situation.” Despite feeling very “blessed,” Chet said he also struggled with the darker side of fame.

“My experience was even more complicated because, on top of fame already being toxic, I wasn’t even famous,” he shared. “I was just the son of somebody famous, so I hadn’t even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt.” The “White Boy Summer” singer said that growing up, he began to feel jealousy from his peers as he started to be recognized for his name. 

“People would make up their minds about me before they even got the chance to know me and it was extremely hard to break down their walls,” Chet claimed, saying that the experience made him begin to feel hostile towards other people. “So, I encountered a lot of disdain, a lot of animosity and negativity. Because everybody was just prepared to hate my guts.”

“People kinda did f- with me a lot growing up,” he continued. “It was never to my face. It was always behind my back in the forms of gossip and s- talking. I was also extremely distrustful of people and defensive.” Chet said that his initial coping mechanism of being “intimidating” to others didn’t work for long, and that he wished someone was there to offer him guidance before he went down “a path of self-destruction.”

“I didn’t have a strong male role model to tell me that. To tell me, ‘Bro, f- these people. They are just jealous of you. You have all these things that they want so they are trying to f-king throw their shade at you so you can feel s-ty about yourself because they are jealous,’” he said. “I needed to hear that. I didn’t have anyone to tell me that. This is me now telling the younger version of myself what I needed to hear then.”