Chet Hanks opens up about addiction and growing up with Tom Hanks

Chet Hanks offered a deeply personal look at his struggle with addiction and self-worth, saying he couldn’t find peace until he stopped trying to control everything and gave it all to God.

Hanks describes the emotional toll of growing up in Tom Hanks’ shadow, his journey to rehab, and the lessons he’s learned since.Artist Friend with Joel Madden“

The 35-year-old actor said that his life changed for him when he adopted being grateful for life’s simplest moments, instead of focusing on opportunities that will not come.

“… when I learned to really love the simple things, I realized it made my career a lot smoother,” he told host Joel Madden. “Like this was the game changer that actually changed everything in my career,” Hanks said.

CHET HANKS BRINGS LUXURY FLATS FOR NASHVILLE TRAILER PARK

“There was a time when it was like I had nothing. I’m broke. It’s like I just got out of rehab or something. I got nothing. There’s no opportunities. Nobody calls my phone. Nobody gives a fuck, I don’t even audition. Music? Nobody cares about my music. You know what I mean?” he added. “But I’m so grateful just to have a place, to have my bike, and to wake up in the morning. Wow. It’s such a beautiful day. I’m going to go for a walk.”

The actor said that practicing gratitude after rehab ultimately led him to surrender his concerns to God instead of trying to control every outcome.

“When I got to that point, the phone started ringing,” he explained. “You know what I’m saying? It’s an energetic thing…. I really believe that. I feel like we’re trained to think that we have to strive for something to happen. And that’s true to a degree. But for me, I can really say, when I’m putting everything into it, I have to work. I have to hustle. I have to think of something. I have to come up with a plan. I have to do it. I have to fuck it. Wait. You know what I mean? It’s like there was always one obstacle after another.”

Hanks said he finds peace by trusting God instead of relying solely on the hustle and bustle.

“I felt like I wasn’t making any progress. When I really let it go and I was like, you know what, fuck all of this. I just gotta enjoy the simple things and trust God. And I give God what I’m worried about. I tell God, ‘God, check this out. This is what I’m worried about. I’m stressed about it. I don’t know what the fuck to do. I’m not doing it. I have to answer. I’m giving this to you. Please deal with it.’ That’s when things started happening.”

Reflecting on his addiction, Hanks gave a candid explanation of what drew him to drugs.

“See, that was my problem; I liked not being in control. That was like the thrill of it.”

Participating in Joel Madden’s “Artist Friendly” podcast, Chet Hanks said that after rehab, he found peace by appreciating the simple moments of life, and when he surrendered his worries to God, opportunities began to come. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

TOM HANKS’ SON CAME ON FIRE IN MEDELLIN AFTER USING HIS GREEK PASSPORT ON A TRAVEL TO COLOMBIA

Hanks also looked back on his childhood and talked about how growing up as the son of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars shaped his self-worth. He admitted that he was “hyper-aware” of how people interacted with him and that it was “like overload.”

“There’s a lot of information I’ve received,” Hanks said. “These micro things that I was aware of were so overwhelming that the way I coped with them was to completely ignore them,” he explained. “Because if I didn’t shut it down completely, I would be consumed by it. And that created its own monster.”

Chet Hanks also reflected on the emotional toll of growing up as Tom Hanks’ son, admitting that he struggled with feelings of worthlessness and intense pressure to exceed expectations. (Michael Buckner/Various)

He explained that these feelings caused him to crave a sense of freedom that had eluded him for years.

“…the circumstances I was born into were that I didn’t feel like I needed to meet the bar. I felt like I needed to pass the bar so that I could live up to who I thought I was supposed to be,” he explained.

According to Hanks, these pressures are deeply internalized.

“The result over a long period of time, at least for me, was to internalize that and form the belief that there was something wrong with me,” he admitted.

Chet Hanks is the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. (Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

The emotional toll boils down to one overwhelming emotion, Hanks said.

“It’s actually like feeling worthless,” Hanks said. “… I felt worthless. You know what I’m saying? People ask me, ‘What was it like growing up?’ he asks. … They’ve got a goddamn idea in their head, like some people do.”

“It wasn’t like that, dude,” he emphasized. “And that wasn’t the problem. It was like I felt worthless.”

Hanks explained that his trailer home in Nashville represents the freedom he sought for years after addiction and growing up in the shadow of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

“I love the feeling of freedom,” he told Madden. “To me, I’m acutely aware that this is the most important thing in life for me.”

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Chet Hanks, who is currently pursuing a country music career with his band Something Out West, said living in a Nashville trailer park gave him the sense of freedom he had been searching for for years. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Recording Academy)

Hanks traded his swanky apartment life for a trailer park in Nashville as he pursued his country music dreams.

He began his country music career in 2025 by forming the band Something Out West with his collaborator Drew Arthur. The duo released “Leaving Hollywood” and recently performed at the Stagecoach Festival.

Looking back on his journey, Hanks said one lesson stands out above all others.

“I feel like the key to unlocking everything is gratitude,” she explained. “Because if you’re not grateful, you can at least have a job you hate. But if you’re not at least grateful for your health and your loved ones in this s–y job. Then if you don’t learn the importance of being grateful, when you have nothing, you can’t learn that. If you take away all the things.”

“And even if you get all these things, if you never learn why you should be grateful, then it won’t matter and you won’t even enjoy it,” Hanks said. “So what’s the point then?”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION