Chet Hanks grew up feeling “completely worthless”.
Chet Hanks struggled to relate to people
The 33-year-old actor – who is the son of Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson -was desperate to make friends when he was young but struggled to connect to people because they expected him to be “arrogant” due to his famous parents, and he didn’t want to present a “meek and timid” front to combat their preconceptions.
Speaking to his celebrity housemates on ‘Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets’, Chet said: “I’ll tell you something about my childhood. People think that being Tom Hanks’ son, like, I would grow up feeling like I was the s***.
“I actually grew up feeling completely f****** worthless.
“People treated me like, ‘You must think you’re better than me’ when I didn’t. I just wanted to be friends with everybody and be treated like everybody else.
“But what am I supposed to do? Walk through the doors and be all meek and timid? That was a mind f*** for me to deal with.
“If you do walk in through the door and you’re like, ‘Here I am motherf*****’ then it’s like, ‘Oh look at you arrogant son of a b****.’ I did internalise all that negativity. Maybe I am f****** worthless, you know what I’m saying?”
Chet had to “battle” to get the confidence to meet people.
He 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.’”
The former ‘Empire’ actor has previously been treated for addiction and he recently admitted life has become “extremely easy” since he got sober almost three years ago.
He told People magazine: “I’m ready for people to see that I’m just a regular guy. That’s why I signed up for ‘Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets’. It was honestly one of the best experiences of my life, and I’m not just saying that. I had a blast, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
“There was a little drama, but not much!
“One hundred percent. None of this would be possible without sobriety. It’s not difficult at all. What’s difficult is when you’re trying to manage your life and you’re not sober, that’s what’s difficult. When you just commit and decide and you stick to it, it’s not even something that you negotiate with. It’s just a non-negotiable. And life becomes extremely easy.”
