As the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, he was born into a life of wealth and opportunity.
Yet Chet Hanks’ life has differed from that of his brother Truman and half-siblings Colin and Elizabeth Ann, who have all pursued careers in the entertainment industry.
The actor – who stars in the Netflix hit Running Point – has been embroiled in several scandals and controversies over the years, with Chet calling himself the ‘black sheep’ of the family.
And earlier this month, Chet revealed that he’s living in a RV in a trailer park while trying to launch his country music career.
Chet, 35, has relocated from Los Angeles to Tennessee while trying to become a country music star, and said that his decision to live in a motorhome was down to the fact that he doesn’t like hotels and AirBnBs because he ‘likes his own space’.
It is the latest example of another difference between Chet and his parents, who reside in a 14,513-square-foot, $26million mansion in Pacific Palisades.
Chet Hanks has relocated from Los Angeles to Tennessee while trying to become a country music star and is living in a motorhome
As the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, he was born into a life of wealth and opportunity. Yet Chet Hanks’ life has differed from that of his siblings (pictured with his parents in 2010)
Chet has spoken before about how growing up in ‘nice hotels and flying on private planes’ affected his outlook on life, claiming he struggled to form any genuine relationships.
He explained in a 2022 YouTube video: ‘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, so I hadn’t even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt.
‘People would make up their minds about me before they even got the chance to know me and it was extremely hard to break down their walls.’
On how his privileged upbringing ultimately led him to rebel, Chet continued: ‘I was just a little rich kid in this sheltered, protected bubble, and I didn’t experience s***.
‘I was deeply insecure and ashamed of my upbringing… I felt like a little f****** p**** rich kid that had never gone through s***, who didn’t deserve to be in this position, who internalised all the shame projected onto me, who created more and more of this within myself.
‘And that’s what led me to, once I got older, to go about as far in the opposite direction of my upbringing as I could go. Cause I feel like I had to make up for that, so I could be a man.
‘That’s the truth. It’s not just anger, it’s shame, insecurity, self-consciousness.’
Chet’s struggle with drug addiction began in his teenage years, with the actor revealing he started taking drugs at 16 before seeking help when he reached 24.
‘I was selling coke [and] doing coke until I couldn’t even snort it up my nose anymore because it was so clogged. I even smoked crack,’ he revealed.
Tom and Rita sent their son to a ‘wilderness camp’ back in 2008 to help him deal with his addiction issues when he was still in high school, but it didn’t help.
Chet has said he believed both of his parents had been, ‘manipulated the whole time,’ due to their Hollywood and wealthy status and were used as ‘whales’ because they had the ‘resources to keep’ him at the camp for ‘long f****** time’.
A later stint in rehab helped Chet get clean, with Tom saying that he supported his son, ‘every step of the way’.
Chet pictured with his Running Point co-stars Fabrizio Guido, Brenda Song, Kate Hudson, Scott MacArthur, Drew Tarver and Uche Agada last month
Whilst under the influence of drugs, Chet caused controversy when he defended his use of the N-word on social media, saying he believes it ‘unifies the culture of hip-hop across all races.’
In a 2015 Instagram post, he said: ‘I do say the N-word in real life amongst my black friends who get me and can’t nobody tell me I can’t say what the [expletive] I feel like no disrespect to the struggle of black ppl during the civil rights movement but it’s 2015 now.’
He went on to encourage followers to ‘get with the times.’
Yet three years later, Chet explained on The Red Pill Podcast with Van Lathan that he, ‘was on a lot of drugs’ when he used the N-word frequently.
‘Lowkey, like subconsciously, looking back on it now I realize I was trolling,’ he said. ‘I thought, like, crazy antics and just whiling the f*** out and doing some crazy s*** was going to like spark my career.’
However, he has defended himself against claims of ‘cultural appropriation’ for frequently attempting to speak in a fake Jamaican accent.
After several videos of the star speaking in Patois emerged, Chet claimed: ‘It’s my only liberation from the constant activity of my mental. I am who I am.’
In another post, he asked: ‘Why are we so caught up on this idea of theft and stealing?
‘Why are we so quick to be angry and tense over the blurring of racial communities, instead of just being welcoming towards it?’
Chet also found himself the butt of jokes in 2021, after he declared that the upcoming season was going to be ‘white boy summer.’
The entertainer was instantly poked fun of on social media, while others accused him of racism.
‘I just got this feeling, man, that this summer, it’s about to be a white boy summer,’ he said blankly.
‘Take it how you want,’ he continued. ‘I’m not talking about Trump, Nascar-type white boy summer, I’m talking about me, Jon B, Jack Harlow–type white boy summer. You know what I mean? Let me know if you guys can vibe with that.’
He added in his caption: ‘Is it bout to be a #WhiteboySummer or am I trippin ???? Tag a REAL vanilla king #Respectfully.’
He later released a song titled White Boy Summer.
Chet was accused of domestic abuse by ex-girlfriend Kiana Parker in a $1million suit she filed against him in 2021. He denied the claims
Later that year, Chet made headlines again with his anti-vaxx stance, stating that he refused to take the Covid vaccine.
Chet, whose parents were the first major celebrities to catch the virus in March 2020, posted a video captioned: ‘Woke up and chose chaos lmaooooo.’
He said: ‘There’s more evidence of UFOs being real than that vaccine being healthy for you, just saying. Aliens are out there, ready for y’all to come get me, let’s get the f*** out of here! Or do I have to show you my vaccine papers?’
Chet said: ‘I’m gonna keep this real simple for you guys, real simple. Just like you have the right to be mad at me because I said I’m not getting the vaccine… I have the right to not get that s***.
‘I wanted to, but my immune system said it’s good, okay, it doesn’t need to be tampered with.
‘It said it’s good, okay. Let’s be real. 99 per cent of you motherf****** wouldn’t use a shampoo that’s not FDA approved, but you’re willing to get some experimental government injection. Okay.’
More controversy followed a few months later when he was accused of domestic abuse by his ex-girlfriend Kiana Parker.
A civil suit filed by Kiana alleged she was physically and psychologically terrorized by Hanks between October 2020 and 2021.
The lawsuit stated that Chet shoved and grabbed his ex-girlfriend, threatened to carry out a murder-suicide and branded her a ‘ghetto black b****’ who wouldn’t be believed.
Chet’s lawyer dismissed the allegations as a ‘shakedown,’ and claimed they were in response to a suit filed by Chet, claiming that Kiana attacked him with a pot, leaving him with blood gushing from a wound on his forehead.
However, in recent years, Chet has been staying out of trouble while trying to launch his music career.
On his decision to pivot from rap to country music, Chet explained last year: ‘Honestly, the change for me going from rap to country was because when I got sober, it was hard to continue doing rap – just because so much of my lifestyle when I was doing rap was influenced by substances.
‘So it just allowed me to pull the layers back and start telling other sides of my story.’
