E.A. Hanks, the daughter of Hollywood icon Tom Hanks and his late first wife, Samantha Lewes, is breaking her silence on the profound and lasting scars of her “abusive” childhood. In her upcoming memoir, “The 10,” the 42-year-old writer bravely details the abuse she endured, revealing how its effects continue to shape her life today.
Tom Hanks’ Daughter E.A. Hanks Unveils Harrowing Details of Abusive Childhood in Explosive New Memoir
In raw and honest prose, E.A. recounts the pervasive instability of her mother’s home, where basic necessities and consistent care were often absent. She reveals a startling struggle with “personal hygiene,” explaining that “only sporadically did I ever have an adult telling me to brush my teeth, for example, let alone how or why I should.” This lack of fundamental guidance led to a shocking realization in her 30s that she hadn’t seen a dentist in over a decade.
The memoir also sheds light on the erratic availability of food, a stark contrast between “feast or famine” that has left a lasting impact. E.A. admits to still grappling with consistently keeping food in her own home.
Adding to the emotional and physical toll, E.A. discloses her battle with excoriation disorder, a mental health condition characterized by compulsive skin picking. “I still pick badly,” she writes, acknowledging a persistent struggle despite her efforts to manage the condition.
Born Elizabeth Ann Hanks, the former Vanity Fair scribe paints a vivid picture of her нестабильное воспитание under the care of her mother, Susan Dillingham (who used the stage name Samantha Lewes). Lewes, who passed away from cancer in 2002 at the age of 49, did not physically strike her daughter, but E.A. asserts that the abuse was present in other insidious forms.
She recounts unsettling memories of her mother’s behavior, including being “pushed,” “shook,” “pulled at my hair,” and even being “locked in a closet once or twice.” Disturbingly, E.A. recalls her mother’s paranoid delusions, sharing how Lewes “told me there were men hiding in her closet who were waiting for us to go to sleep to come out and do horrible things.”
Further detailing the emotional turmoil, E.A. claims her mother would speak of “dozens of miscarried babies, [E.A.’s] lost siblings,” and ominously insinuate that she would soon “join them in eternal limbo.”
Despite the darkness, E.A. offers glimpses of her mother’s complex nature. She acknowledges Lewes’s efforts in driving her “all over California to horse shows at ungodly hours” and her occasional acts of care, such as cutting up cookie dough for sleepover friends and allowing E.A. to experiment with hair dye.
However, as E.A. reached her teenage years, the inconsistencies of her upbringing became starkly apparent. When she was 14, her mother’s declining health brought a clearer understanding that “there should have been more food in the house on a regular basis” and that being awakened in the middle of the night for “an impromptu lecture on why yoga was the devil’s work” was far from normal.
Ultimately, at the age of 14, E.A. moved in with her father, Tom Hanks, his second wife, Rita Wilson, and her half-brothers, Chet and Truman Hanks. E.A. believes her mother suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder, marked by episodes of extreme paranoia and delusion.
Lewes and Tom Hanks met in the mid-1970s while studying theater, welcoming their first child, Colin Hanks, in 1977 and marrying shortly after. E.A. followed in 1982. The couple separated in 1985 and divorced in 1987, with Lewes initially having primary custody.
“The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road,” set to be released on April 8th, promises a deeply personal and unflinching account of E.A. Hanks’s journey, offering a rare glimpse into her life.
