Why Tom Hanks’ daughter

In her memoir The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, Elizabeth Anne (E.A.) Hanks opens up about her difficult childhood and the close bond she shares with Rita Wilson, whom she calls her “other mother.” Tom Hanks married Wilson in 1988, when E.A. was just six years old. Despite the warm relationship she shares with Rita and her stepbrothers, E.A. experienced a troubled upbringing under the custody of her biological mother, Susan Dillingham. She recounts a life of emotional neglect and instability, including being secretly moved from Los Angeles to Sacramento without her father’s knowledge.

E.A. recalls a childhood marked by a deteriorating home environment, with neglect escalating into abuse. She later moved back to Los Angeles during middle school, spending weekends and summers with her father, Rita, and younger half-brothers, Chet and Truman. In interviews, E.A. explained that Rita has always been more than a stepmother, calling her a true parental figure. Similarly, she doesn’t view her siblings as half-brothers, saying they’ve always been part of her life. Susan Dillingham passed away in 2002, and Tom Hanks has described the divorce as a deeply painful time.