Chet Hanks, Tom Hank’s Son, Says He ‘Didn’t Have A Male Role Model’ Growing Up

In a new YouTube video, Chet Hanks has said that growing up the son of “America’s Dad,” Tom Hanks, wasn’t always a picture-perfect childhood, despite its many advantages that he fully acknowledged. He even notes he “didn’t have a strong male role model.”

He began the video with a humorous anecdote of having the chance to meet George Bush when he was President. A young Chet apparently told Bush frankly what growing up with movie star parents was like. “There’s a lot of advantages, but sometimes it can be pretty weird,” Hanks said, and in the video said he still gives people that answer to this day.

Hanks said he was “very blessed” for the opportunities and luxuries he experienced. “I love my parents, I wouldn’t want any different parents, and I wouldn’t want any different life… but the truth is it is a double-edged sword.”

The Shameless actor spoke actually rather poignantly about how “destructive” fame can be, and how his relationship with celebrity was made more complicated because “I wasn’t even famous. I was just the son of somebody famous, so I hadn’t even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition, and that created a lot of contempt for me.”

The contempt Hanks faced apparently came from assumptions that he was a “spoiled brat” before even meeting him, and he claims his parents encouraged him to work and earn his own money more than children of other wealthy parents.

“Everybody was just prepared to hate my guts. And that caused me to develop a chip on my shoulder and walk around with a lot of anger,” Hanks confessed. He later said, “If you have the X-factor, you’re gonna encounter a lot of resentment from people that lack that within themselves.”

This was the first video on Hanks’ new YouTube channel, which he promises will “go a lot deeper and a lot realer,” than his antics on Instagram. “I’ve come a long way since White Boy Summer,” Hanks added at the start of the video.