Musician Chet Hanks is opening up about the moment he decided to get sober and how he’s channelling his newfound lease on life into an exciting new project.
The 27-year-old son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson struggled with substance abuse and addiction before becoming a dad and deciding to turn his life around.
“It was just the birth of my daughter and finding out I was going to be a father,” Hanks tells Fox News. His daughter Michaiah was born in April 2016. Hanks says being a dad made him “grow up really fast” and led him to a new musical venture, FTRZ, and a bandmate who also knows the struggle of sobriety.
“We met through a mutual friend, and figured out we were both sober, so we became friends pretty instantly over that,” Hanks says of Drew Arthur. The duo are tackling their trials to sobriety on a new track.
“‘Models’ is about the journey through our past of substance abuse that led us to be the better people we are today,” Hanks explains. “How the wrong path can lead you to the right path if you make a change.”
“You start getting to live your dreams just by making the decision to be sober. That’s what it’s done for me. That’s the difference. Three years ago my life was kind of like a nightmare, and, now I get to live my dreams,” he says, adding that both his parents and Arthur’s have been supportive.
“They’ve been completely supportive 100 per cent,” Hanks says of his dad, Tom, and mom, Wilson.
Hanks will appear on screen alongside his famous dad in an upcoming movie set during the Second World War.
“It was a really great experience working alongside my dad for the first time. I didn’t know what it was going to be like, and it turned out to be really fun and enjoyable.”
