Chet Hanks has opened up about what it’s like to grow up with famous parents.
Chet is the 31-year-old son of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.
Tom Hanks’ son speaks out about fame
In a YouTube video uploaded on February 15, Chet shared the positives and negatives of his life with famous parents.
He said that while he grew up very “blessed” with parents he loves, the unique experience was a “double-edged sword.”
He detailed some of the advantages of having famous parents: “There’s a lot of advantages but sometimes it can be pretty weird. I got to do a lot of cool s**t that a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to do. I got to travel the world, stay in nice hotels, fly on private planes and I’m very blessed for that. I wouldn’t change my situation.”
He also spoke about how his situation caused a lot of “jealousy.”
“My experience was even more complicated because on top of fame already being toxic, I wasn’t even famous,” Chet said. “I was just the son of somebody famous so I hadn’t even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt.”
He noted that things got bad for him when he faced new peers in high school and college.
“People would make up their minds about me before they even got the chance to know me and it was extremely hard to break down their walls,” he said, admitting that this experience led him to get a “chip” on his shoulder and develop a “hard exterior.”
Chet added, “People kinda did f**k with me a lot growing up. It was never to my face. It was always behind my back in the forms of gossip or s**t talking.”
Chet shared that it took a long time for him to learn that “people’s perception of you is only a reflection of themselves.” He has now changed his life and is no longer on the “self-destructive” path of “anger” and “partying.”
Chet received backlash for COVID-19 vaccine comments
Chet made tabloid headlines last summer for his misleading comments about the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Aug. 9, he posted a since-deleted video on social media that, at first, seemed like an endorsement of the shot.
Suddenly, Chet switched gears and shouted, “PSYCH, b***h! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I never had COVID. Ya ain’t sticking me with that motherf***ing needle.”
He then falsely claimed that COVID-19 is “the motherf***ing flu.”
The post received negative reactions from social media users, who brought up the fact that Chet’s parents, Tom and Rita, had contracted COVID-19.