Hollywood legend Tom Hanks is known as America’s sweetheart—the kind of star everyone loves. But behind the scenes, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Hanks (now going by E.A.), lived a childhood far from the glamour of Hollywood. In her explosive new memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, she pulls back the curtain on her turbulent upbringing, revealing heartbreaking details about divorce, neglect, and a road trip that changed everything. From growing up in a house filled with dog feces and expired food to surviving her mother’s violent outbursts, E.A.’s story isn’t your typical celebrity kid tell-all.
1. The Forgotten Child Of Tom Hanks’ First Marriage
Most people know Tom Hanks as the lovable dad from Forrest Gump or the heroic captain in Saving Private Ryan. But long before he became an A-list star, he was just a struggling actor married to Samantha Lewes, with whom he had two kids—Elizabeth (E.A.) and her brother, Colin. While the world sees Hanks as a devoted family man now, E.A.’s childhood was anything but stable. Her parents split when she was just five, and her memories of them together are almost nonexistent.
In her memoir, she writes: “I am a kid from the First (non-famous) Marriage. My only memories of my parents in the same place at the same time are Colin’s high school graduation, then my high school graduation.” She even reveals there’s only one photo of her standing between both parents—and in it, her mother’s wig is crooked. It’s a small but telling detail about the fractured family dynamic she grew up in.
2. A Childhood Marked By Neglect And Violence
While Tom Hanks’ career skyrocketed in the ‘80s and ‘90s, E.A. was living a completely different reality. After the divorce, she stayed with her mother in Sacramento—and the home she describes is shocking. “The backyard became so full of dog s**t that you couldn’t walk around it, the house stank of smoke. The fridge was bare or full of expired food more often than not.”
Her mother, Samantha, struggled with mental health issues, often staying in bed for days, obsessively reading the Bible. But things took a dark turn when her emotional turmoil turned physical. “One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath, I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade.” E.A. doesn’t go into graphic detail, but the implication is clear: her home life was far from safe.
3. The Cross-Country Road Trip That Changed Everything
Amid the chaos, there was one glimmer of connection between E.A. and her mother—a road trip along Interstate 10 when she was 14. They drove a rickety Winnebago from California to Florida, a journey that felt more like a drifting ship than a vacation. But even this memory is bittersweet. Just a few years later, her mother called with devastating news: she was dying of cancer.
Samantha Lewes passed away in 2002, leaving E.A. to grapple with a complicated legacy of love and pain.