Let’s talk about what happens when America’s favorite Hollywood dad stands up for his daughter in a moment of painful truth. Yep, “Tom Hanks”—Mr. “Life is like a box of chocolates”—is making it clear that when it comes to family, he’s not here for fluff or denial.
And this time, the spotlight isn’t on him, but on “E.A. Hanks”, his daughter, who’s peeled back the layers of a deeply complicated childhood in her new memoir, “”The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road.””
Now, let’s be honest—when a celebrity memoir drops, it usually comes with juicy anecdotes, maybe a scandal or two, but this one? This one dives deep. E.A. doesn’t hold back.
She recounts everything from emotional volatility to physical abuse and growing up in a household where stability was as rare as a clean backyard (literally—she describes one so littered with dog mess you couldn’t even walk through it). It’s raw. It’s revealing. And it’s the kind of story that could make headlines for all the wrong reasons… unless, of course, you’ve got a dad like Tom Hanks.
In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Tom didn’t sidestep the tough stuff. Instead, he leaned in, praising his daughter’s strength, honesty, and even the risky courage it took to say the unsayable.
“She’s a knockout, always has been,” he said. And that wasn’t just a proud parent platitude—it was a nod to the resilience and depth it takes to walk through trauma and come out the other side with a voice, a message, and a story that could help others.
And look, Tom didn’t sugarcoat the past. He acknowledged the messy truth with a line that hits hard: ““We all come from checkered, cracked lives.”” For a guy who’s built a career on playing everyday heroes, this might be one of the most heroic things he’s done—offering unconditional support, publicly, while never minimizing the pain or complexity of his daughter’s reality.
E.A.’s memoir paints a haunting picture of growing up post-divorce, under the roof of a mother battling inner demons—some undiagnosed, others obvious through the chaos and neglect. She shares moments that would break most people, including the chilling night when verbal abuse turned physical, and the aftermath that forced her to uproot her life in the seventh grade.
And yet, here’s what’s beautiful in all of this: the honesty. The willingness to say, “This happened. It shaped me. And I’m still here.” And Tom Hanks? He’s not trying to steer the narrative or protect his image. He’s just being a dad—proud, empathetic, and supportive.
Sometimes, the real story in Hollywood isn’t on screen. It’s in the quiet but powerful moments when someone famous shows up not as a star, but as a parent who gets it. Tom Hanks just did that. And E.A. Hanks? She’s telling her truth like it matters—because it does.
