After 30+ Years Together, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's Surprise Announcement

This article appeared in spellrock.com and has been published here with permission.

Tom Hanks fell in love with Rita Wilson when he saw her on TV when they were both 16. His wish to marry her came true in 1988, and they became Hollywood's most humble power couple. Still head over heels in love after 35+ years, they are each other's rock. So, let's get to know Tom and Rita, track their careers and discover their shocking announcement.

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born on July 9th, 1956, in Concord, California, northeast of San Francisco. His mom was hospital worker Janet Marylyn Frager from a Portuguese family. His dad was an itinerant cook, Amos "Bud" Hanks, whose ancestors hailed from England.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks has some notable family members. Surprisingly, he is a distant cousin of President Abraham Lincoln and beloved children's host Fred Rogers. Even more surprisingly, he went on to play both Abraham Lincoln and Mr Rogers in film roles.

Rita Wilson

A few months later, Rita Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles on October 26th, 1956. Her mother, Dorothea Tzigkou, was Greek and raised in Albania, near the Greek border. Her father, Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff, was also from Greece and raised near the Greek border with Bulgaria.

Rita Wilson

Rita's father's family moved to Bulgaria when he was a child, and he emigrated to Los Angeles in 1949. Barman Hassan Ibrahimoff changed his name to Allan Wilson in 1960, choosing his name after a local street.

Hanks' Parents Split

The same year Hassan changed his name, Bud and Janet Hanks divorced. The three eldest Hanks children, Tom, his sister Sandra, and his brother Larry, went to live with their father, while the youngest child, filmmaker Jim, lived with their mother in Red Bluff, California.

Hanks' Parents Split

Sandra became a writer, Larry became an entomology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Jim became a filmmaker. Bud and the three kids moved around lots, and Tom lived in ten different houses before he was ten.

Unpopular Kid

Nowadays, everybody thinks of Tom Hanks as a loveable, amiable guy, but it was an entirely different matter at school. He wanted to be an astronaut but was as unpopular with his fellow students as he was with his teachers!

Unpopular Kid

Tom told Rolling Stone magazine, "I was a geek... I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible."