Chet Hanks has had some intense challenges in his life. The son of actor Tom Hanks, he has faced addiction, being in rehab, and the difficulty of establishing his own identity apart from his famous dad's. Dealing with all that cannot have been easy for Hanks, who is 35. However, he is opening up about the choices that altered his life and put him on a much better, healthier path. During a recent appearance on Artist Friendly with Joel Madden, Hanks got candid about what amounts to his major epiphany.
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Hanks Adopted a Whole New Outlook
He shared with Madden, "I did notice that once I learned to truly love the simple [expletive], it made ... my career happen a lot smoother. Like, that's actually the game changer that shifted everything in my career. Like, once I was like, I don't have [expletive]. I'm broke. Like, I'm fresh outta rehab or whatever. I got nothing going on. No opportunity's happening. Nobody's calling my phone...I don't even have an audition. Music? No one gives a [expletive] about my music. You know what I mean?"
Gratitude restored him. Furthermore, Hanks added, "But I was so grateful to just have a spot, have my bike, wake up in the morning. Wow. It's a beautiful day. I'm gonna go for a walk."
Turning to God Was a Huge Help
Instead of shouldering the entire burden of everything that was going haywire for him, Chet Hanks welcomed God into his life. It was a move that had a big positive impact on him. "It felt like I was just never making any progress. When I truly let go, and I'm like, you know what, [expletive] all that. I gotta just enjoy the simple [expletive] and trust God. And what I'm worrying about I give it to God."
Being a Superstar's Son Had Its Drawbacks
Chet Hanks was acutely aware of how being Tom Hanks' son influenced how people regarded him He developed some coping strategies. However, even that was not completely successful. He confided to Joel Madden, "There's so much information that I'm picking up on. These micro things that I'm aware of, that was so overwhelming, that the way I dealt with it was just tune it out completely. Because if I didn't shut it off completely, I would be consumed by it. And that kind of created its own monster."
Hanks put that awful feeling in a nutshell. "I felt worthless." And he also expressed the new philosophy that turned it all around for him this way. "I just feel like gratitude is the key to unlocking everything."
