Tom Hanks has expressed pride in his daughter E.A. Hanks for having the "wherewithal" to write her "incredibly honest" memoir.
In her recent autobiography, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, Elizabeth Ann claimed that her mother Samantha Lewes was emotionally and physically abusive and neglectful when she lived with her following her divorce from Hanks.
The Forrest Gump star addressed the abuse allegations when asked by Access Hollywood how proud he was of her book.
"There is a pride because she shares it with me. She's very open about what the process is," he shared, noting that he knew exactly the kind of person Elizabeth, 43, was when she was six weeks old.
"(So) I'm not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal as well as the curiosity as well as I'm going to say perhaps shoot herself in the foot kind of wherewithal in order to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about," he continued.
"We all come from chequered, cracked lives, all of us... I think anybody who does that (writes a memoir) is a bold journalistic literate mind and I'm just thrilled I can say the same thing about my daughter."
Hanks got married to Lewes, real name Susan Dillingham, in 1978 and their divorce was finalised in 1987. The actress was awarded primary custody of their children Elizabeth and Colin while Hanks would see them on weekends and holidays.
In her memoir, Elizabeth wrote, "I would visit my dad and stepmother (and soon enough my younger half brothers) on the weekends and during summers, but from 5 to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love."
Recalling when the custody arrangement switched, she wrote "One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade."
Lewes died in 2002 at the age of 49.
Hanks has been married to his second wife, Rita Wilson, since 1988 and they share sons Chet and Truman.
