Chet Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, has said he felt “completely fucking worthless” growing up with famous parents.
During the season premiere of MTV’s Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets, the 33-year-old actor and singer found himself discussing his childhood with his fellow reality stars.
“I’ll tell you something about my childhood. People think that being Tom Hanks’ son, like, I would grow up feeling like I was the shit,” he said (via UsWeekly). “I actually grew up feeling completely fucking worthless.”
The musician didn’t blame his experience on his famous parents, though. Instead, he said it was his peers and strangers who made him feel negatively about himself.
“People treated me like, ‘You must think you’re better than me’ when I didn’t. I just wanted to be friends with everybody and be treated like everybody else,” he told his co-stars, including Kim Zolciak Biermann, Josie Canseco and O.T. Genasis. “But what am I supposed to do? Walk through the doors and be all meek and timid? That was a mind fuck for me to deal with.”
Chet Hanks, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Truman Hanks. Credit: Getty Images
Chet continued: “If you do walk in through the door and you’re like, ‘Here I am mother fucker,’ then it’s like, ‘Oh look at you, you arrogant son of a bitch.’ I did internalise all that negativity. Maybe I am fucking worthless, you know what I’m saying?”
The rapper added that it was a “battle for me mentally and emotionally just to be able to walk outside, look someone in the eye and say, ‘What’s up? I’m Chet.’”
Earlier this month, Chet spoke out against racists and bigots for twisting the meaning of his song ‘White Boy Summer’.
“White boy summer was created to be fun, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love beautiful queens of every race. Anything else that it has been twisted into to support any kind of hate or bigotry against any group of people is deplorable and I condemn it,” he wrote on Instagram.