Tom Hanks delivers ceremonial first pitch at baseball game

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Tom Hanks – famous for roles in the likes of classics including Forrest Gump, which was released 27 years ago today – has five children. But it is his first son from his second wife Rita Wilson who has caused the most concern for the Hollywood heavyweight – and who has blamed his father’s fame for his controversial behaviour.

Chet, born Chester Marlon Hanks, is a self-described “black sheep” of the family as his siblings all quietly followed their father’s footsteps into Hollywood.

Even in high school, his problems were evident, with Hanks sending Chet to Second Nature, a wilderness therapy programme for troubled teens when he was 17.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Hanxfit, Chet claimed he was dragged from his bed in the early hours of the morning and taken to a remote part of Utah for months, under a strict regime where even packets of brown sugar were a privilege that had to be earned. 

After 15 weeks, Chet was expecting to get the news that he would be sent home, but instead got told he had finally earned a singular phone call with his parents. 

He recalled: “It was the lowest moment of my life. I just completely lost it to the point where hysteria beyond what I even knew I was capable of. They broke me psychologically.”

Chet added that he does not blame his parents for sending him and noted they made the right decision “because I was completely out of control”. 

The wilderness program would arguably do little to resolve Chet’s issues, with 2015 becoming the year he would make headlines as he suffered from drug abuse problems and was often in trouble with the police for vehicular incidents or trashing hotel rooms.

The New York Daily News reported that in a deleted Instagram post, Chet admitted to selling and using cocaine until he was unable to because his nose had become clogged. 

Throughout his life, Hanks’ fans had chastised Chet for “embarrassing” his goodwilled father with his public scandals, but this did not hinder him in the slightest. 

Chet managed to grab a few acting roles before deciding he wanted to be a rap star, which is when he adopted the name Chet Haze.

In 2016, Chet found himself becoming a father with his former partner Tiffany Miles, and shared that his daughter Micaiah along with his parents have helped him to overcome his substance abuse issues.

He had been in and out of rehab multiple times but was determined to recreate himself, using the gym as a distraction, he said. 

Once sober, Chet was able to get his acting and music career back on track, appearing in the 2015 film Fantastic Four and with recurring roles on Empire and the US version of Shameless.

However, it appears it was not only drugs forcing Chet into the spotlight for all of the wrong reasons.

The Hollywood heir has still had a share of controversies since becoming sober.

He made headlines with an Instagram video in August last year encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccination before revealing it was a joke. 

Chet, a so-called anti-vaxxer, shared: “You ain’t sticking me with that motherf***ing needle. It’s the motherf***ing flu. Get over it, okay?” 

These comments garnered increasingly negative attention, especially as both his parents had contracted Covid and were genuinely encouraging people to get vaccinated. 

After these actions, Hanks and Wilson allegedly cut off Chet financially.

In a vlog on his YouTube channel titled The Truth About Growing Up As A Hanks, he said: “I wouldn’t change my situation for anything, I love my parents. 

“You’ve got to keep in mind that fame is the most powerful drug known to man, it can also be the most destructive.

“I wasn’t even famous, I was just the son of somebody famous. People would make up their minds about me before they even got to know me. 

“Everybody was just prepared to hate my guts. It just led me down a path of self-destruction.”

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