This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive.

Tom Hanks Details Coronavirus Struggle For Him, Rita Wilson

Hanks and Wilson were both diagnosed with COVID-19 while in Australia.

Tom Hanks is sharing new details about the coronavirus infection that he and his wife, actress/singer Rita Wilson, caught last month while he was filming in Australia.

“Rita went through a tougher time than I did. She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell,” the Academy Award-winning actor said on the “National Defense Radio Show” last week. “She got absolutely no joy from food for actually the better part of three weeks.”

Later in the show, Hanks said Wilson was “so nauseous, she had to crawl on the floor from the bed to the facilities.”

Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were some of the first celebrities to publicly state their positive diagnosis of COVID-19.
ROBYN BECK via Getty Images
Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were some of the first celebrities to publicly state their positive diagnosis of COVID-19.

His own symptoms were a little milder, at least by comparison.

“I had some bad body aches and was very fatigued,” he said.

Hanks said he tried to exercise for 30 minutes ― describing it as stretching and “old man kind of things” ― but couldn’t make it through.

“I was wiped after 12 minutes,” he said. “I laid down in my groovy hospital bed there and slept for like an hour and a half.”

Hanks said they still don’t know how they got the infection that initially hospitalized them for three days in Australia.

The two eventually returned to the United States, where Hanks remote-hosted a special edition of “Saturday Night Live,” while Wilson sang the national anthem for a virtual NASCAR event.

Also on HuffPost:

Close
This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.