Therapists and counselors are summing up Chet Hanks’ self-described low self esteem in childhood as indicative of deep-seated emotional and psychological struggles.
“People think that being Tom Hanks’ son, like, I would grow up feeling like I was the [expletive],” Chet said. “I actually grew up feeling completely [expletive] worthless. People treated me like, ‘You must think you’re better than me’ when I didn’t.”
With box office hits like “Philadelphia,” “A League of Their Own,” and “Forrest Gump,” Chet’s dad is one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood while Chet’s mom, Rita Wilson, is known for roles in the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” franchise and “It’s Complicated.”
The set of “Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets” takes place at a villa in Colombia where cast members are provoked to uncover their past and divulge their deepest truths.
“What does my family think of me doing this show? They disowned me,” Chet Hanks joked. “No, I’m just kidding.”
In the scene, the 33-year-old played cards with his co-stars, which included television personality Kim Zolciak Biermann, model and influencer Josie Canseco and rapper O.T. Genasis. Other castmates are Teen Choice Award winning singer Ally Brooke, figure skater Johnny Weir, actor and musician Tyler Posey, and Grammy award winning singer Macy Gray.
Although he openly discussed his childhood struggles on camera, Chet Hanks stopped short of implicating his parents.
The actor and musician said it was a “battle for me mentally and emotionally just to be able to walk outside, look someone in the eye and say, ‘What’s up? I’m Chet.’”
Gray was uncomfortable hearing about serious childhood issues and redirected the conversation.
“Whatever the trauma that may have happened behind closed doors, you can automatically assume there’s a lot of pressure around being the son of somebody like Tom Hanks,” Nicholas Mathews, founder of Stillwater Behavioral Health, told The Epoch Times.
Stillwater Behavioral Health is an inpatient substance abuse and mental treatment facility in California.
Instead of his parents, Chet Hanks blamed his peers and strangers around him who complicated things.
“If you do walk in through the door and you’re like, ‘Here I am mother [expletive],’ then it’s like, ‘Oh look at you arrogant son of a [expletive],’” Chet Hanks said. “I did internalize all that negativity. Maybe I am [expletive] worthless, you know what I’m saying?”
Constant scrutiny and negative comments from strangers may have significantly impacted his childhood but licensed marriage and family therapist Sandra Kushnir said the primary source of a child’s sense of self-worth typically comes from the immediate family and close relationships.
“The impact of strangers is often a secondary factor that exacerbates existing insecurities,” Kushnir told The Epoch Times. “While having successful Hollywood parents can contribute to feelings of worthlessness, there are often underlying family issues at play.”
Kushnir founded Meridian Counseling in Los Angeles.
Growing up in the public eye means the children of Hollywood stars cannot make mistakes without running the risk of being publicized.
For example, it’s widely reported that Chet Hanks has struggled with addiction.
“Impulse control is one of his biggest issues,” Mathews told The Epoch Times. “He would do things without thinking about the consequences and playing it through.”
Although he’s reportedly been living sober for two years, Chet Hanks previously admitted to using cocaine until his famous parents staged an intervention in 2008 when he was in high school.
Licensed marriage and family therapist and author Jeanie Chang partly identified Chet’s feelings of worthless as the “imposter syndrome.”
“Perhaps when Chet was feeling most vulnerable, he wasn’t heard or seen and perhaps dismissed,” Chang told The Epoch Times. “Everyone wants to feel validated. Also, perhaps folks pointed out how lucky he had it but he never had a chance to explore who he is without his famous parents or outside of Hollywood.”
Mathews advises people who are concerned about the welfare of a child who expresses feelings of worthlessness to be a squeaky wheel.
“If you’re worried and you think something’s going on with them, call their school,” he added. “Chet could have benefited tremendously from therapy, counseling, community and transparency. He needed people around who understood him and who had his back.”
Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Chet Hanks were reached out to with requests for comment.
