Late last month, Star Magazine ran a cover story claiming that Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks’s 28 year-long marriage was on the rocks. This was same week that news broke about the Brad and Angelina split, when the tabloids seemed especially obsolete by being unable to keep up. Rita had just posted some sweet photos with Tom to Instagram so it seemed short sighted to claim they were having problems, unless the magazines had an actual source. Now we may have our answer because Star and The Enquirer have printed retractions and an apology. (The Enquirer had stories about them in the editions dated August 8th and October 10th. They generally painted Rita as a shrew.)
Tom and Rita issued a statement explaining their decision to go after the outlets instead of trying to ignore the stories. They said that their marriage is their foundation and that they can’t sit idly by while it’s threatened.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have received apologies from both the National Enquirer and Star over recent false stories claiming the couple was getting divorced. The tabloids have also since retracted their reports.
The development is a result of the actor and his wife hiring a lawyer to force American Media Inc., the parent company of the two magazines, to withdraw the bogus split stories. Hanks and Wilson released a statement to Gossip Cop explaining, “No true news organization could report that our marriage is on the brink of breaking up, but American Media Inc., owner of Star and The National Enquirer, often run fabricated stories to sell their tabloids. In the past, we laughed off their cover stories of our soon-to-be acrimonious divorce because those stories were so far from true, they were laughable. But our marriage is the foundation of our family, is sacred to us, and we couldn’t allow such nonsense as we are about to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary next April. For Star and National Enquirer to profit by dishonoring what is so precious to us with such falsehoods were, we decided, lies we would not put up with any longer.”
Good for them! You can see The National Enquirer’s retraction here and Star’s apology here. As I wrote back when Star ran this story, I love these two and for what it’s worth I didn’t believe that they were splitting. It’s somehow better to hear it straight from them instead of from a rep though.
Here are some cute photos from Rita’s Instagram. Look at this! They are the best.
I need a purple and/or burgundy velvet jacket.
I believe Tom Hanks comes from a different generation of actors. He knows that acting is his job and it doesn’t define who he is as a person. You cannot last so long in that business if you are not nice to the people working for you and with you.
I hope Rita and Tom’s wedding will last forever.
Yes, I think he is one of the few that is “immune” to the detrimental effects of fame, so to speak. He seems like a wonderful man and embarrassingly enough I got a little teary eyed reading that statement they released.
Waaay back, maybe during Joe versus the Volcano(1990)a reviewer said Hanks was the new Jimmy Stewart. I think he hit the nail on the head.
I agree. Tom is one of the special ones for sure. I’m not sure what it is but he’s nice to everyone, humble and keeps his family close. Do I think he’s perfect? No but he seems to put a lot of good energy into the world and doesn’t get caught up in the glitz of fame. Like you said it’s a job for him but it’s not a lifestyle
Good for them from me, too.
In Britland, we have a few Americans we like to regard as honorary national treasures. Hanks is one such. I would be most upset to ever discover he is really an arse. I’d probably refuse to believe it!
Well……..
Let’s call him a national treasure with feet of clay because as adorable as these 2 people are, it was a messy start. Then there is their rapper son.
*sticks fingers in ears*
La la la can’t see or hear you, LAK!
You don’t mess with Rita and Tom. Don’t nobody mess with Rita and Tom. Love them, a really genuine and decent couple.
They had an affair.. I love how that was overlooked. And they get praised. Other couples get attacked..
Double Standard.
Yep – them,Julia Roberts, Laura Dern,Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Garner and even Paul Newman are all praised and others are attacked.
To be fair, it likely wasn’t overlooked 30 years ago. It’s just that there were no internet ‘coals’ to rake them over at the time.
Yes, the way they got together was wrong, but after 29 years of marriage, they were obviously meant to be together. The strength of their union is something that I, personally, admire.
Not a double standard. Sometimes relationships do not work out. Garry Marshall even commented about this in his biography. He said there were a lot of issues between Tom and his first wife. I’ve been alive long enough to remember that affair. While I side eyed it it’s been 29 years since they were together. I think they are built to last. At this point you celebrate the marriage longevity.
the links to the apologies are messed up and might need fixing – they both lead to the site of radaronline.
I always have that problem with radoronline. Whenever I click a link to an article on their site, it takes me to the general site instead. It’s a nuisance.
Probably because RadarOnLine, I believe, is also owned by the same company.
Lovely couple, glad they did this. Not everyone is a total asshole.
If you can access it, listen to his episode of “Desert Island Discs” on the BBC Radio 4 site. It was really interesting and he was a great guest.