Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson: Inside the Secret to Their 35-Year Marriage
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are the definition of true love.
The Hollywood couple has been married since 1988, celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary in April after first meeting on the set of Hanks' sitcom, Bosom Buddies, in 1981. Over the years, Hanks and Wilson -- who often work together in front of and behind the camera -- shared secrets to having a successful marriage and keeping the spark alive.
"We married the right people," Hanks told ET in 1999 at the premiere of The Story of Us.
"That's right," Wilson agreed.
At the 1999 premiere of The Green Mile, Hanks couldn't help but marvel over his wife.
"Doesn't she look fabulous?" he told ET at the time, prompting Wilson to adorably reply, "I love him... There's only one. One and only."
Several years earlier, ET spoke with Hanks in 1993 while promoting Sleepless in Seattle and he gushed that he knew there was something special from the moment they met.
"I knew something was cooking there from the very beginning," the actor declared.
But even before they met on Bosom Buddies a decade earlier, Hanks admitted he had his eye on Wilson long before that. He revealed it was an episode of The Brady Bunch that Wilson was in that Hanks happened to watch on TV -- and a certain cheerleader onscreen got his attention.
"I was watching on a Friday. This cheerleader was so cute," Hanks sweetly shared. "She'd knock me out and then I married her."
And just days before Hanks and Wilson said "I do," ET sat down with Hanks about falling in love with his life partner.
"It's a long haul kind of thing. It's a big process and I guess you find yourself being more in love with these people as time goes by and here it is. We've been going out for almost two and a half years," he said in 1988. "And it's like, 'Oh, I thought I loved this woman six months ago, but I love her even more now.' So it just keeps changing all the time."
Before he became hitched, Hanks believed he'd "probably be the same kind of husband as I was a boyfriend and I thought I was a pretty good boyfriend, so I guess I'll make a pretty good husband."
The couple has gone on to partner as producers on multiple projects. Their biggest surprise hit? My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
"When I met Tom, it was like in the movie. They look at him and go, 'Eh, he looks Greek.' That's enough," Wilson, who is the daughter of Greek immigrants, said in 2002, before imitating family members in a thick Greek accent. "'When are you and Tom going to get married? You have two more weeks and then get rid of him!'"
Hanks and Wilson have also supported each other through sickness and in health. In 2015, Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. She is now cancer-free.
"I would say we got closer, if it's even possible to say that," Wilson said in 2016.
"My wife can beat anything. She is superhuman. She doesn't have the shield or the golden lasso, but my wife can jump through hoops that are smaller than you can even imagine," Hanks praised.
And in April, the couple celebrated 35 years of marriage.
"He's so hot and he makes me laugh," Wilson said in 2022.
"This is one of the most classically beautiful women who has ever walked the planet Earth," Hanks marveled in 2018.
"I thought he looked so handsome," Wilson recalled in a 2001 interview. "I thought, 'He's looking so good!' I can't tell you what else I was thinking."
Both knew they had something special, sharing with ET at a 1998 Oscars party that they're set for life.
"I'm totally the luckiest woman in the world," Wilson said.
"Everyone should be so lucky with their lovah," Hanks quipped.
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