Washington [US], June 5 : Hollywood legend Tom Hanks has recently shared his thoughts on his daughter, EA Hanks's new memoir 'The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road', which details painful memories of emotional and physical abuse by her mother, actress Samantha Lewes.
According to People magazine, during the red carpet premiere of his new film, The Phoenician Scheme, Hanks said he wasn't surprised by his daughter's decision to confront her past.
"I'm not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal as well as the curiosity to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about," Hanks said, adding that families often come from complex and "checkered, cracked lives," as quoted by People magazine.
Hanks, 68, further acknowledged how deeply personal the revelations in his daughter's memoir were, reflecting on how, as a parent, you can see the essence of your child from a young age.
"She's a knockout, always has been," he said, adding, "If you've had kids, you realise that you see who they are when they're about 6 weeks old."
E.A. Hanks, whose full name is Elizabeth Anne, opens up in her memoir about the turbulence she faced during her childhood, including years of what she described as "emotional violence" and "physical violence" following her parents' divorce in 1987.
The memoir sheds light on EA's strained and complicated relationship with her mother, Susan Dillingham.
After Hanks and Dillingham's marriage ended, their daughter lived primarily with her mother, while Hanks had designated weekend and summer visitation rights.
"I would visit my dad and stepmother (and soon enough my younger half-brothers) on the weekends and during summers, but from 5 to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love," EA recalled in the book, highlighting the dark circumstances of her early years.
Her account details how the home environment became increasingly unstable, with neglectful conditions such as a filthy backyard, an empty refrigerator, and her mother's escalating emotional withdrawal.
"The house stank of smoke. The fridge was bare or full of expired food more often than not, and my mother spent more and more time in her big four-poster bed, poring over the Bible," she wrote, as quoted by People magazine.
EA revealed that it wasn't until her mother's emotional abuse escalated to physical violence that she decided to leave home, moving to Los Angeles as a teenager.
"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," she explained, noting that her custody arrangement shifted thereafter.
In a particularly heartbreaking section of her memoir, EA describes a phone call with her mother during her senior year of high school, when her mother claimed to be dying.
Though never formally diagnosed, EA believes that her mother suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which manifested in episodes of extreme paranoia and delusion.
Reflecting on her experience, EA said the dysfunction of her early life had a lasting impact.
Despite her struggles, she managed to forge her own path as an adult, writing her memoir as an act of catharsis.
According to People magazine, during the same interview, Tom Hanks also discussed his role in his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme.
In the film, Hanks portrays Leland, a business associate of wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda, played by Benicio Del Toro.
The gripping tale of corporate betrayal and personal vendettas features an ensemble cast that includes Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Willem Dafoe, and Scarlett Johansson.
'The Phoenician Scheme' was released in select theatres on May 30 and will see a wider release on June 6.
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