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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Kate Ng

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson share their secrets to being fun grandparents

Getty Images

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s grandchildren have plenty of fun when they visit their grandparents.

The couple have three grandchildren, including Olivia, 12, and Charlotte, 10, through son Colin, and seven-year-old Michaiah through Chet.

Hanks, 66, and Wilson, also 66, shared their tips on how to make the most out of being grandparents while attending the premiere of Wes Anderson’s new movie Asteroid City on Tuesday night (13 June).

On the red carpet at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, the couple told Entertainment Tonight: “All you gotta do is love those little brats and they’re better than TV.”

He clarified quickly: “They’re not little brats, they’re extraordinary young women.”

Wilson added: “They are extraordinary young women.”

The Now and Then star detailed how she and Hanks spend their time with the children when they get to take care of them.

“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,” she said.

“You just got to hang out.”

L-R) Samantha Bryant, Colin Hanks, Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, Chet Hanks, and Truman Theodore Hanks attend the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 05, 2020 (Getty Images)

Hanks added: “You have to make their macaroni and cheese jut perfectly.”

In 2017, the couple declared themselves to be “cool grandparents”.

At a gala fundraiser for the Women’s Cancer Research Fund in Los Angeles, Hanks said: “I think [we’re] the most cool.

“When you have grandkids, if you’re with one of them – or all three of them – look, there’s no book, no radio, no TV. You’re going to be entertained by them every moment that you’re there. Sit back and watch the show!”

Colin has previously weighed in on his parents’ grandparenting skills. In 2019, he noted that his children “don’t care” about the fact that their grandpa is a huge movie star.

He said their visits are “like every other playdate with a grandparent”, adding to US Weekly: “The grandparent gives them stuff they shouldn’t be having, and the grandparents don’t listen to what the parents are saying they should be doing.”

At the end of April, Hanks and Wilson celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.

Wilson shared a snap of the Forrest Gump star presenting her with a cake and wrote: “35 years of marriage. April 30, 1988. Love is everything.”

The couple are parents to Chet and Truman. Colin is from Hanks’ first marriage to Samantha Lewes in 1977, with whom he also shares his only daughter, Elizabeth Ann.

Hanks and Wilson first met on the set of the 1981 ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies. They went on to star in several films together, including Sleepless in Seattle, That Thing You Do!, Larry Crowne, and, most recently, Asteroid City.

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