Growing up with two of Hollywood’s biggest stars as parents might sound like a dream to many people, but Chet Hanks says his experience was far more complicated than most would expect.
Appearing on the July 8 episode of Joel Madden’s “Artist Friendly” podcast, the 35-year-old actor and musician opened up about the emotional weight of being the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, revealing he spent years struggling with self-worth despite public assumptions about his privileged upbringing.
“Bro, I felt worthless,” Chet admitted.
He said people often imagine he grew up with endless luxury, joking that many picture someone ringing a bell and saying, “Jeeves, please bring in my croissants.” Chet said that version of his childhood couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Instead, he said one of the hardest parts was that people rarely believed him when he tried to explain what life actually felt like.
“They’ll be like, ‘Yeah, whatever,'” he said, recalling the skepticism he often faced.
Trying to Find His Own Identity
Chet said the pressure wasn’t necessarily about living up to his parents’ success. It was about feeling like he had to go even further just to prove his own worth.
Per Fox News, he explained that he didn’t feel like he simply had to meet expectations.
“I felt like I had to excel past the bar in order for me to just live up to who I thought I should be,” he said.
Over time, those feelings became deeply internalized.
“The result, for me at least, was to internalize it, forming the belief that there is something wrong with me,” he said.
He also described becoming “hyper aware” of how people viewed him from an early age, saying he constantly picked up on subtle reactions from others until it became emotionally overwhelming.
“If I didn’t shut it off completely, I would be consumed by it,” he said, adding that coping mechanism eventually “created its own monster.”
When Madden asked what advice he’d give parents raising children in the spotlight, Chet explained that celebrity kids often struggle to be seen as individuals instead of extensions of their famous parents.
“Their first thought isn’t going to be, ‘Who’s this guy?'” he said. “Their first thought, if they know who he is, is just you.”
According to Us Weekly, despite those challenges, Chet remains close with both Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who have supported his acting and music careers over the years.
Gratitude Changed Everything
While reflecting on his journey, Chet also shared how his outlook changed after getting sober.
In August 2024, he celebrated two years of sobriety after previously revealing he had hit “rock bottom” before checking himself into rehab. At the time, he told People that getting sober transformed his life and became a “non-negotiable,” saying none of his current success would have been possible without it.
During his latest conversation with Madden, Chet said the biggest shift came after rehab when he stopped obsessing over his career and started appreciating life’s simplest moments.
Per Fox News, he said he learned to focus on things like having a place to live, riding his bike and simply enjoying each day instead of worrying about opportunities that weren’t coming.
“I did notice that once I learned to truly love the simple s—, it made my career happen a lot smoother,” he said. “That’s actually the game changer that shifted everything in my career.”
He added that letting go of the need to control everything and placing his worries in God’s hands helped change his perspective.
Today, Chet said gratitude has become the foundation of how he approaches life.
“I just feel like gratitude is the key to unlocking everything,” he said. “If you don’t learn the importance of gratitude when you don’t have s—, you’re not gonna learn it if you get all the s—.”
