Tom Hanks’ Niece Reveals Her Regrets After Emotional ‘Claim to Fame’ Outburst (Exclusive)

Tom Hanks’ niece, Carly Reeves, wishes things could have gone differently for her in the Claim to Fame house. Reeves, whose mother the sister of Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, was the first celebrity relative to be eliminated during Monday’s Season 2 premiere of the ABC show co-hosted by Kevin Jonas and Frankie Jonas – and she didn’t go down without a fight. 

Following her elimination, Reeves opened up to PopCulture.com about her regrets in the game, which brings 12 anonymous people with famous family members together to compete to discover the truth about one another. Having had the Forrest Gump actor hinted at as her uncle early on in the game with a park bench clue, Reeves was outed by her fellow contestant Hugo, which led to an emotional outburst during the elimination ceremony.

Reeves told PopCulture that she felt like she wanted to “disappear for a second” before being called up by Hugo, but that as soon as she heard her name, she knew he would guess her famous family member correctly. “What bothered me the most is that no one from the cast warned me that I might get called up,” she explained. “I was going through a ton of emotions. First I was shocked, then I was sad, then I was angry, and then I was just heartbroken and devastated.”

Reeves doesn’t have any “hard feelings” toward Hugo now, but she admitted that she wanted a “real shot” at winning the season, which is why she became so emotional. The moment she walked into the house, however, Reeves knew that she was in a tough place. In retrospect, she thinks she shouldn’t have given away that her celebrity relative was an Oscar winner or responded so strongly to the theory that Hanks was her uncle. 

There is one thing she doesn’t regret, however. “I don’t regret my reaction because it was real,” she told PopCulture. “I thought the clues were way too easy and I was upset, however, I wish I could have composed myself a bit better for my exit so that I could tell the cast all the good things about [Hanks].” She joked, “Maybe I should have cried in the bathroom.”

When it comes to all the wonderful things she has to say about her uncle, Reeves looked back fondly on her days as a 4-year-old flower girl at Hanks’ wedding to her aunt, her family’s trips to Europe and working with her uncle on the 2011 movie he directed, Larry Crowne. “It is hard because you almost have to prove to everyone that you are talented and deserving or else people will say it was a handout,” Reeves said of her acting career. “He’s been to all my little community theater shows, even when there were 20 people in the audience. He also inspired me to follow my dream of moving to New York and let me stay with him while I looked for an apartment.” 

She continued, “I am just so awed by his discipline, his imagination, his humor, and his wit. He is so well-read and it’s amazing to hear him talk. I’m inspired by him every day.” Claim to Fame (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.