Tom Hanks’ type 2 diabetes confession is a wake-up call. Learn how his lifestyle led to it—and why you should rethink yours too.
Ever thought Tom Hanks—famously known for his critically acclaimed movies—could be hit by something as real as type 2 diabetes? Yep, the Forrest Gump actor admitted he was a “total idiot” for ignoring his health. Shocking, right? Turns out, being a Hollywood legend doesn’t protect you from sugar spikes and scale drama.
Tom Hanks got the diagnosis after years of high blood sugar, and since then he has been a loud-and-clear warning siren for all of us snack-loving, gym-dodging mortals. If he can get it, so can we. So maybe it’s time to rethink your diet and start flirting with salads again, and maybe start running like Forrest.
Tom Hanks opened up about his type 2 diabetes
Back in 2013, when Tom Hanks revealed suffering from type 2 diabetes, fans everywhere did a double-take. Because, the man who ran across America in Forrest Gump, got stranded on an island in Cast Away, and saved the world in Saving Private Ryan, how can he suffer from such an ailment?
Well, appearing on The Tonight Show with David Letterman, Tom Hanks spilled the beans on how he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. With his signature self-deprecating humor, Hanks admitted to getting “graduated” to diabetes after years of high blood sugar. Yikes! That’s a type of graduation nobody wants.
I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you’ve graduated! You’ve got type 2 diabetes, young man,’
Although Tom Hanks quickly mentioned that “it’s controllable” with a proper diet, the actor then noted the hard truth about life—“something’s going to kill us all, Dave”. However, despite joking around about his malady, the Hollywood star became serious and spoke about his lifestyle. Blaming himself for his situation, Hanks mentioned taking care of his diet and weight.
Tom Hanks warned about weight gain and maladies
Being vocal about his type 2 diabetes diagnosis, Tom Hanks appeared for an interview with Radio Times in 2016 and discussed how he landed in such a mess. Therein, he admitted ignoring his health for years and later blamed himself for not watching what he ate and letting the pounds pile on.
I’m part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady. I was heavy. You’ve seen me in movies, you know what I looked like.
I was a total idiot… My doctor says if I can hit a target weight, I will not have type 2 diabetes anymore.
Instead of sugarcoating things, Tom Hanks called himself part of the “lazy American generation” that kept partying with pizza and sugary sodas, ignoring the health warning signs. But to be fair, it’s not just his generation; even today, we’re doing the same thing to our bodies, without realizing the consequences.
Tom Hanks, 68, sparks health concerns as fans spot his trembling hands during ‘SNL’ appearance
Tom Hanks has sparked fresh health concerns among fans following his appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend.
The Academy Award-winning actor, 68, appeared on the show to support host Martin Short alongside stars Scarlett Johansson, Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Wiig and John Mulaney.
But soon after coming out during the show’s Five-Timers Club segment, fans were quick to spot the “Forrest Gump” actor’s shaking hands.
Viewers rushed to social media to raise concerns about Hanks’ health, with one fan writing, “Is Tom Hanks’ hand shaking?”
Another added, “I also noticed it!!! And now I am concerned,” while a third wrote, “Is Tom Hanks ok?”
“He was on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ a while back and I noticed it there too,” another fan wrote, while a fifth jumped to the actor’s defense, writing, “Considering he’s almost 70! Yeah older people hands tends to shake a little.”
The Post has reached out to Hanks’ reps for comment.
It’s not the first time the actor’s trembling hands have sparked fan concerns on social media.
In June 2022, a video showing Hanks’ hands shaking onstage during the Australian premiere of “Elvis” went viral on social media.
In the video footage, the Hollywood star’s hands were seen trembling as he appeared to struggle to keep a steady hold on a microphone.
Hanks — who went public with his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 2013 — moved the mike back and forth between his shaking hands before attempting to hold the device with both hands as he spoke to the audience.
However, fans flocked to social media at the time to shut down speculation about the actor’s health.
“He’s still one of the best actors left … his health is his business,” one fan wrote on X.
Another fan added that the star’s unsteady hands could likely be due to his diabetes and shouldn’t be cause for alarm.
“He’s diabetic. This happens to my mom when she gets low blood sugar,” they wrote.
Hanks went public with his diabetes diagnosis during an interview on the “Late Show With David Letterman” back in 2013.
“I went to the doctor and he said, ‘You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36?’” Hanks said at the time. “‘Well, you graduated! You’ve got Type 2 diabetes, young man.’”
In a later interview with the Radio Times, Hanks said he was a “total idiot” about his self-care prior to the diagnosis.
“I’m part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady,” he said. “I was heavy. You’ve seen me in movies, you know what I looked like. I was a total idiot. I thought I could avoid it by removing the buns from my cheeseburgers.”
Tom Hanks’ daughter opens up on mental illness in family
- E.A. Hanks, the daughter of Tom Hanks and his first wife, Susan Dillingham, has revealed her father had to track her and her brother, Colin, down after their mother took them out of school for two weeks without informing him.
- Dillingham and Hanks divorced in 1987, with Dillingham initially having primary custody of the children.
- E.A. Hanks’ upcoming memoir details her mother’s struggles with undiagnosed mental health issues, presumed to be bipolar disorder, including paranoia and delusions.
- The memoir also recounts Dillingham’s increasing neglect, which led to a custody change, with E.A. eventually moving in with her father after an incident of physical violence.
- E.A. Hanks embarked on a road trip to her mother’s family’s home in Florida to learn more about her before she died of lung cancer in 2002.
Tom Hanks’ daughter, E.A., details shocking lasting effects of abusive childhood
E.A. Hanks, the daughter of Tom Hanks and his first wife, Samantha Lewes, is still struggling with the aftereffects of her “abusive” childhood.
The 42-year-old writes in her forthcoming memoir, “The 10,” that “personal hygiene” is difficult for her to grasp “because only sporadically did I ever have an adult telling me to brush my teeth, for example, let alone how or why I should.”
E.A. admits she was well into her 30s when she realized she had not seen a dentist in more than a decade.
The former Vanity Fair scribe also struggles to “keep food in my house on a consistent basis,” as it was either feast or famine at her mom’s home.
Additionally, E.A. shares that she developed excoriation disorder, which the Cleveland Clinic describes as a mental health condition that causes a person to compulsively pick at their skin.
“I still pick badly,” she writes, “though I work hard not to.”
The writer, born Elizabeth Ann Hanks, details her unstable upbringing with her late mother throughout “The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road,” which hits bookstores April 8.
Lewes, whose real name was Susan Dillingham, died from cancer in 2002 at age 49.
E.A. writes that her mom did not hit her but was abusive in other ways.
“She pushed me, shook me, pulled at my hair and locked me in a closet once or twice … she told me there were men hiding in her closet who were waiting for us to go to sleep to come out and do horrible things,” she remembers.
E.A. says her mother was “abusive.”
The writer (seen here with her dad and writer Jacob Bernstein in 2007) believes her mother was bipolar.
The Hollywood scion also claims Lewes would talk of “dozens of miscarried babies, [E.A.’s] lost siblings,” and insinuate she would “join them in eternal limbo.”
However, she also notes that her mother, who struggled with her mental health, drove her “all over California to horse shows at ungodly hours” and would “cut up cookie dough for my friends sleeping over and let me dye my hair every color I wanted.”
When E.A. was 14, her mom’s health took a turn for the worse, leading her to realize “there should have been more food in the house on a regular basis” and that being awoken in the middle of the night to hear “an impromptu lecture on why yoga was the devil’s work” was not the norm.
The teen ultimately moved to live with her father and his second wife, Rita Wilson, and her two half-brothers, Chet and Truman Hanks.
E.A. believes her mother had undiagnosed bipolar disorder with episodes of extreme paranoia and delusion.
Lewes met Tom, now 68, in the mid-’70s while they were both studying theater in Sacramento.
The then-couple welcomed their first child, son Colin Hanks, in 1977 and married two months later. They became parents of two in 1982 when E.A. was born.
The “Forrest Gump” star and Lewes separated in 1985 and divorced two years later.
She got primary custody, with the kids visiting their dad on weekends and in the summer — until the situation flipped in their teenage years.
While Lewes never remarried, Tom went on to wed Wilson, now 68, in 1988.
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