Chet Hanks has opened up about growing up as the son of Tom Hanks.
The actor, who has starred in Empire and the US version of Shameless, spoke about his experiences in the spotlight on his YouTube channel in a video titled ‘The Truth About Growing Up As A Hanks’.
As the son of a famous actor, Chet states that he “encountered a lot of disdain, a lot of animosity and a lot of negativity” because of people’s preconceived notions that he’d be a “really arrogant, entitled spoiled brat”.
In the video, Chet said: “My experience was even more complicated because on top of fame already being toxic, I wasn’t even famous. I was just the son of somebody famous. I hadn’t done anything to deserve any sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt for me. My dad is beloved, he’s on this pedestal, but for me it created a lot of contempt.
“People automatically assumed in general that I would just be a really arrogant, entitled spoiled brat, even though I really wasn’t. I’m really privileged but I wasn’t spoiled.”
While he acknowledges he’s “very blessed” and that he “wouldn’t change my predicament for anything”, Chet said his experiences growing up were more difficult because he “didn’t have a strong male role model” to support him.
“That’s what I didn’t understand as a kid,” Chet added. “That these people were fucking jealous of me and they were projecting their own insecurities onto me.
“I needed to hear that as a kid. I didn’t have a strong male role model to tell me that, to tell me: ‘Hey bro, fuck these people, they’re just jealous of you.’ You have all these things that they want, so they’re trying to fucking throw their shade at you so you can feel shitty about yourself because they’re jealous.
“I needed to hear that, I didn’t have anybody to tell me that. This is me now, as a man, telling the younger version of himself what he needed to hear.”
Tom Hanks has two two children, Chet and Truman, with his wife Rita Wilson. He also has two from a previous marriage, daughter Elizabeth and son Colin.
Chet faced criticism after debuting the track ‘White Boy Summer’ in April last year. In August, he also spoke out against COVID vaccinations, claiming that “there’s more evidence of UFOs being real than that vaccine being healthy for you”.
