America’s favorite grandparents, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, are sharing their secrets.
The famous couple has been married since 1988 and certainly isn’t lacking in grandkids to dote on. These include the children of Colin Hanks, Olivia and Charlotte, and daughter of Chet Hanks, Michaiah.
“All you gotta do is love those little brats and they’re better than TV. They’re not little brats, they’re extraordinary young women,” Hanks told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, before Wilson reiterated: “They are extraordinary young women.”
The couple shares two sons, Truman and Chet Hanks. The “Forrest Gump” star already had two kids before meeting Wilson — Elizabeth and Colin Hanks — with ex-wife Samantha Lewes, who died at 49 from cancer in 2002.
Tom Hanks and Wilson have notably different strategies to winning their grandkids over.
“You got to get on the trampoline with them, you got to get in the pool with them, you got to get on the tennis court, you got to do all the sports. You just got to hang out,” Wilson told ET, before Tom Hanks added: “You have to make their macaroni and cheese just perfectly.”
Max Cisotti/David M. Benett/Getty Images
Colin Hanks previously told “Today” that they’re normal grandparents who just happen to be famous and couldn’t care less about “the kids’ bedtime.” Olivia and Charlotte, who are now 12 and 9, also “get a lot of sugar” when Tom Hanks and Wilson are around.
“They need, like, good ugly sweater vests,” Colin Hanks told “Today” about his father and stepmother being stereotypical grandparents. “Like if they both had those and just some glasses and complained about the temperature, I think we’d be good.”
Colin Hanks, who has established himself as a respectable filmmaker, previously told Us Weekly his daughters “don’t care” about his dad’s fame. Tom Hanks does think of his son’s wife as one of his own children, however, and notably included her in an awards speech.
“A man is blessed with a family sitting down front like that,” he said while accepting an honorary Golden Globe in 2020. “A wife who is fantastic in every way, who has taught me what love is. Five kids who are braver and stronger and wiser than their old man is.”
Grandfather has seemingly become the most treasured role Tom Hanks has ever played. The actor has not only made the most of it by spoiling his grandkids, but joined Wes Anderson’s new project, “Asteroid City” — playing a grandpa in the upcoming film.