Rita Wilson Is Free of Cancer
Rita Wilson on Dec. 9. (Photo: Getty Images)
It’s Rita Wilson, 1, and cancer, 0.
“I am cancer free,” the Sleepless in Seattle actress/singer/wife of Tom Hanks revealed Wednesday at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Breakfast, according to People magazine. “I’m 100 percent healthy!”
Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer in March while appearing on Broadway opposite Larry David in Fish in the Dark. After undergoing a double mastectomy and having reconstructive surgery, she returned to the stage by early May.
Now that she is 100 percent, she’s hitting the road with her band. The tour kicks off in Los Angeles and New York, but then makes its way to big cities across the U.S.A.
“It’s going to be hilarious,” she told People. “Me on a tour bus with my band members.” And, apparently, an Oscar winner. “[Tom] already said, ‘I am coming on the tour bus!’ So I had to get one with a bigger bed… He’s a roadie.”
Wilson admitted that part of what is driving her to tour is to show people that cancer didn’t get the best of her.
“I feel really blessed and very lucky,” she said, adding, “I want to show people that you can have cancer, and you can still be out there doing what you love to do, and it’s not a death sentence like it used to be.”
Wilson’s story could have had a very different ending. After initial medical tests, she was told cancer had not been detected. However, a friend urged her to get a second opinion. That is when it was discovered.
During her treatment, she had some drama too. In October, Hanks publicly slammed “quacks” who he said tried to profit off Wilson’s diagnosis.
Now that she has received a clean bill of health, she doesn’t have quacks to worry about. Just set lists, stage wardrobes, and hitting all the right notes.
