Samantha Lewes Was Tom Hanks's First Wife, and They Welcomed Two Kids

Before there was Rita Wilson, there was Samantha Lewes, Tom Hanks' first wife. While most of us only associate Tom with Rita (they’ve been together for 37 years as of April 30, 2025, having tied the knot in 1988), there was actually someone else in Tom’s life he once called his wife, and the mother of his two oldest children.

Samantha, born Susan Dillingham, passed away in 2002. Her life remained mostly out of the public eye, until April 2025, when her name resurfaced following some polarizing accusations made by her daughter, E.A. Hanks, in The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road. The memoir, released on April 8, 2025, includes claims of abuse.

So what exactly do we know about Tom and Samantha’s relationship, and how long were they together?

Tom Hanks and Samantha Lewes met while studying at California State University in Sacramento, and it seems their connection grew from a shared passion for acting. That bond eventually blossomed into a relationship, and then a marriage in 1978.

But before they officially tied the knot, they welcomed their first child, Colin Hanks, in 1977. Like his parents, Colin would go on to pursue a career in acting. Their second child, E.A. (Elizabeth Ann) Hanks, was born in May 1982.

By 1985, though, Tom and Samantha decided to go their separate ways, and their divorce was finalized in 1987.

The split took a toll on Tom. In a September 2020 interview with Graham Bensinger, he opened up about how difficult the divorce was, especially as a father. "I think the job of a parent is to guarantee a care-free life for your children for as long as possible," he said. But at the time, he felt like a failure. "Everything I thought was working, wasn’t."

The emotional weight landed Tom in therapy three times a week. He described himself post-divorce as "emotionally crippled," "sad," and "confused." But over time, he realized he wasn’t the terrible person his mind had made him out to be, it was just a dark chapter, and it would pass. And it did.

When he met Rita Wilson, Tom said he "got a solid dose of normalcy that had been completely absent for me." He married Rita in 1988, and the two have been together ever since. They went on to welcome two sons together: Chester "Chet" Hanks and Truman Hanks.

After the divorce, E.A. shared during an April 2025 appearance on The View that she and her brother, Colin, primarily lived with their mother. She was only five years old at the time and said her mother abruptly moved them from Los Angeles to Sacramento, without telling Tom.

She described her upbringing with Samantha as full of "good days and bad days," but also compared it to "walking on eggshells," as she was never quite sure what version of the person caring for her would show up. According to E.A., her mother was both emotionally and physically abusive, though she kept quiet about it for years in order to protect her mother’s privacy.

E.A. also revealed that her mom reportedly struggled with mental illness and addiction. According to People, those struggles may have stemmed from a disturbing incident Samantha allegedly wrote about in a journal, involving her own father and the "rape, murder, and cannibalization" of a young girl, which E.A. reportedly read years later.

By age 14, E.A. moved in with Tom and Rita and their children, calling the transition a "seismic shift." Sadly, Samantha passed away in 2002 after a battle with lung cancer.