Tom & Rita's Enduring Love

It's A Hollywood Love Story For The Ages

- Tessa Paige

If a year is a long time in a Hollywood relationship, then 31 years is several lifetimes – and it’s not long enough for Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson.

“I’m a lucky man,” he says, simply. “She could’ve done much better.

“People say, ‘Jeez, it must be hard to stay married in show business.’ I think it’s hard to stay married anywhere, but if you marry the right person, it might work out. We give each other a natural sense of support for whatever the other wants to pursue. Our marriage doesn’t require vast work. The only thing we argue about is who loves each other more.”

All set to celebrate their anniversary on April 30, the couple’s enduring romance began in the 1980s when they co-starred in the film Volunteers. The chemistry was immediate.

“Rita and I just looked at each other and – ka-boing! – that was that. I asked Rita if it was the real thing for her and it just couldn’t be denied,” Tom, now 62, says with a grin.

At the time his first marriage, to college sweetheart Samantha Lewes, was on the rocks, even though they had two small children. Even so, he and Rita soon went public with their relationship, he got a divorce and they married in 1988.

There were other barriers to their love. Rita, born Margarita Ibrahimoff, was a committed member of the Greek Orthodox Church. A besotted Tom converted to the faith, but her mother still had doubts.

“She could not believe that I didn’t marry a Greek man,” Rita, also 62, says, laughing. “But [my parents] thought he looked Greek enough and that he could blend in!”

Both had felt that they were yearning for someone to love.