Meet Tom Hanks’ ‘troubled and abusive’ first wife Samantha Lewes

Tom Hanks may be best known for his timeless performances in films such as Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, but behind the screen lies a personal story filled with both love and heartbreak. 

While his nearly four-decade-long marriage to actress and producer Rita Wilson has stood the test of time, Tom’s first marriage to Samantha Lewes shaped a chapter of his life that his daughter is only now beginning to reveal.

Elizabeth Ann Hanks, affectionately known as EA, has offered a deeply personal account of her childhood in her new memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family And The Open Road. 

The 42-year-old writer, who is Tom’s only daughter, opens up about the difficult years she spent with her mother Samantha Lewes, sharing revelations of a childhood marked by what she describes as confusion, deprivation, and at times, emotional and physical violence.

Where did Tom meet Samantha?

Tom met Samantha, whose real name was Susan Dillingham, while they were both studying theatre at California State University in Sacramento. The pair quickly bonded over their shared passion for acting, and romance soon followed. 

In 1977, they welcomed their first child, Colin, now a successful actor himself, followed by EA in 1982. The couple married in 1978 and briefly lived in a modest Manhattan apartment as Tom pursued his dream of becoming an actor.

© Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock

When did Tom divorce Samantha?

As Tom’s star began to rise in Hollywood, the strain on their young family grew more apparent. The demands of his career took him away for long periods of time, leaving Samantha to care for the children. In 1985, after seven years of marriage, the couple separated, finalizing their divorce in 1987. While the children primarily lived with their mother, Tom remained involved, visiting on weekends and holidays.

“Eventually a divorce agreement was settled, and I would visit my dad and stepmother (and soon enough my younger half-brothers) on the weekends and during summers, but from five to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love, I was a Sacramento girl,” E.A. explained. 

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Troubled childhood

In her memoir, EA recounts the dramatic moment her father discovered that Samantha had relocated the children from Los Angeles to Sacramento without informing him. “My dad came to pick us up from school and we’re not there,” she writes. “And it turns out we haven’t been there for two weeks and he has to track us down.” It was a moment, she suggests, that detailed the fractured dynamic between her parents in the years following their split.

“I lived in a white house with columns, a backyard with a pool, and a bedroom with pictures of horses plastered on every wall.”

Sadly, their lives changed when her mother’s mental health began to suffer. “The backyard became so full of dog [excrement] that you couldn’t walk around it, the house stank of smoke,” she recalled. 

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She also reflects on the nature of her parents’ relationship, describing them as “two hurt kids trying to dig out of a well together.” It’s a poignant phrase that mirrors the reflections Tom himself has shared in past interviews. In a candid conversation on Desert Island Discs, he admitted that he worried about the impact of his divorce on his children, saying he had “sentenced my own kids to the sort of feelings I had at their age.”

Where is Samantha now?

EA’s memoir paints a complex picture of life with her mother after the divorce. She describes a relationship that was at times volatile, revealing moments of neglect and emotional distance. 

Though Samantha went on to live a more private life following her split from Tom, her battle with bone cancer brought a tragic end to her story. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 49.