Rita Wilson is opening up about being a working mom.
During a recent interview with People, Wilson discussed what it was like balancing her career with husband Tom Hanks’, while also trying to raise her children. Wilson shares two sons, Chet and Truman with Hanks, and is also a stepmom to his two older children, Colin and Elizabeth, whom he shares with ex-wife Samantha Lewes.
“I slowed down my work because I really wanted to be the mom that was there when they got home, drove the carpool and did all those things,” Wilson said. “Tom was also working a lot, so we would travel with him. If both of us were working and not home, my kids would have been affected. I wouldn’t call slowing down my career a sacrifice, I would call it a choice.”
Both her and Hanks’ careers were just beginning to take off when they married in 1988, the same year his breakthrough role in the movie “Big” hit the big screen. At the time, Wilson had just started to make her way into the film industry in movies like “Sleepless in Seatle” and “That Thing You Do!”
Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks attend the “A Man Called Otto” photocall at Corinthia Hotel on December 16, 2022 in London, England.
(Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
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She decided to put her career on te back burner after her son Chet was born in 1990, taking on fewer roles as Hanks’ career continued to flourish, to ensure there was always someone home with the kids. While it’s easy to assume his success would bother her, she says that was never the case.
“Tom and I have always been supportive of each other and what we do,” she explained. “I remember doing press junkets back in the day, and interviewers would say to me, ‘Gosh, it must be so difficult to be with someone so famous.’ I would think, ‘Why are they saying that?’ Then I realized that the question was more about them and how they would feel in that situation than me.”
Hanks has been a hugely successful actor since the two got married, but Wilson explains she lives “in the freudenfreude,” saying it means “somebody else’s success does not diminish my own.” She is able to be happy for her husband’s success, as well as acknowledge her own.
Although her children are all grown up now, Wilson confirms a mother’s job is never over, saying when “Marc Forster, the director of ‘A Man Called Otto” asked to meet with her son Truman, her mom instincts kicked in, and she had to ignore them and let her son figure things out.
Wilson’s son Truman plays a younger version of his father’s character in “A Man Called Otto.”
(Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
“I really stayed out of that process because I didn’t want to influence it at all,” she explained. “It’s a director’s decision, and I certainly didn’t want to create any discomfort for my own son, like, ‘Mom, why are you pressuring me to do this?’ So staying out of it was a choice, but I’m proud of him for doing it.”
While she initially thought he wouldn’t want to act in the film, as he was going to school to be a cinematographer, Truman stars in the film as the younger version of his dad’s character.
Wilson eventually made her return to acting, starring in “Now and Then,” “Runaway Bride,” “Old Dogs” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” she has since shifted her focus towards producing and singing. She produced “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Mamma Mia,” and released her first album, “AM/FM” in 2012, after Bruce Springsteen inspired to start songwriting.
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“I came into music later in life, so it made me doubt myself because I knew there were people who had more experience than me,” Wilson said. “At the time, I asked Bruce, who is a family friend of ours: ‘Bruce, what makes me think I can start writing now when you’ve been doing it all your life?’ He said, ‘Because, Reets, creativity is time independent.'”
Rita Wilson got into music after Bruce Springsteen inspired her to pursue songwriting.
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Stagecoach)
Wilson’s most recent musical achievement, is making the Oscars shortlist for her original song ‘Til You’re Home,’ which she sings as a duet with Columbian singer Sebastián Yatra for “A Man Called Otto” soundtrack.
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When speaking about the song’s message, Wilson explained “everybody wants to find a home or place that you feel most yourself,” and that for her, “home is where the family is, not where the house is.” She continued “I have always said this because our job takes us so many different places. Family is my base and safe place.”
