Tom Hanks’ wife: My mastectomy has made us stronger
IT will have been the toughest role he has ever had to take on. But Tom Hanks is winning plaudits for how he has supported his wife during her breast cancer battle. Actress Rita Wilson, who has been married to the 58-year-old Da Vinci Code star for 27 years, has praised the way he is caring for her as she recovers from a double mastectomy.
Miss Wilson, also 58, claims the radical surgery last month – which she describes bluntly as an ‘amputation’ – has made their marriage stronger.
She admitted she had worried about how the Oscar-winner might handle the news of her breast cancer and subsequent operation, adding: ‘You never know how your spouse is going to react in a situation like this. Let’s face it – it’s an amputation.’
But she said she needn’t have worried. ‘I was so amazed, so blown away by the care my husband gave me,’ she told the New York Times. ‘It was such
‘Blown away by the care he gave me’
a normal, intimate time. Who knew it would make you even closer?’
Miss Wilson said neither she nor her husband, who have two sons in addition to his two children from a previous marriage, had ever been seriously ill.
But after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she prepared for the ordeal of surgery by retreating with Hanks to their Manhattan home where they spent their time ‘laughing and crying’ as they worked their way through DVDs of the films nominated for this year’s Oscars.
She is the latest celebrity to have gone through a double mastectomy, following movie star Angelina Jolie, 39, and former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, 35.
Miss Wilson, who is performing in the Broadway play Fish In The Dark, said she was now looking forward to having reconstructive surgery, adding: ‘I think it’s going to look awesome.’
Although the couple are notoriously private, she spoke out to encourage women who fear they may have breast cancer to get a second opinion if test results are negative. Her cancer was missed by initial tests and only picked up when she saw a second doctor.