Elizabeth Hanks Opens Up About Childhood Struggles in Candid Memoir

Tom Hanks’ eldest daughter, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, is preparing to share her deeply personal story in her upcoming memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road.

In excerpts obtained by People, the 41-year-old writer reflects on the emotional turmoil she experienced following her parents’ divorce and the difficult childhood that followed.

A Childhood Marked by Divorce and Turmoil

Elizabeth—whose mother is Samantha Lewes (Tom Hanks’ first wife)—describes herself as “a kid from the First (non-famous) Marriage.” Her parents split in 1987 when she was just five years old, and her memories of them together are scarce:

“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.”

After the divorce, she split time between her mother in Sacramento and her father in Los Angeles, where he had started a new family with Rita Wilson (whom he married in 1988).

Escaping an Abusive Household

Elizabeth reveals that her time with her mother was fraught with instability, including moments of emotional and physical violence:

“From 5 to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love, I was a Sacramento girl. One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath…”

The situation became so dire that custody was eventually transferred to Tom Hanks, uprooting her life mid-seventh grade:

“I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade.”

Rebuilding with Her Father’s Family

Though the transition was jarring, Elizabeth found stability with her father, stepmother Rita Wilson, and her younger half-brothers, Colin and Chet Hanks. Despite the challenges, she reflects on her childhood with a mix of pain and resilience, acknowledging the complexity of family dynamics.