Rita Wilson Says Slowing Down Her Career When Her Kids Were Young Wasn't a 'Sacrifice but a Choice'

Harper Smith Rita Wilson

It's a Tuesday afternoon in early December, and Rita Wilson is ruminating on the meaning of happiness.

"It's being with your family and seeing that everyone is pursuing what they love and — oops! Here comes a husband," she says, pausing to greet her spouse of nearly 35 years, actor Tom Hanks.

Moving into a quiet room, the multi-hyphenate star, 66, continues her thought. "Happiness, for me, is equated with gratitude," she says. "I don't think you can have happiness without gratitude."

With an enduring marriage and career that's spanned five decades, Wilson, 66, has plenty to be thankful for.

"Every morning I get up, and I say, 'Thank you, God. I'm still here,'" she says. "I hope that I have many more years ahead of me to create."

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Born and raised in Hollywood, Wilson got her start in acting at age 16 in The Brady Bunch. After appearing in shows like Three's Company and Bosom Buddies, where she first met Hanks, also 66, she moved to the big screen in Sleepless in Seattle and That Thing You Do!

But once she became a mother, Wilson took a step back from her career to focus on raising sons Chet, 32, and Truman, 27. (She's also a stepmom to Hanks' older kids, Colin, 45, and Elizabeth, 40.)

"I slowed down my work because I really wanted to be the mom that was there when they got home, drove the carpool and did all those things," she says. "Tom was also working a lot, so we would travel with him. If both of us were working and not home, my kids would have been affected. I wouldn't call slowing down my career a sacrifice, I would call it a choice."

Jon Kopaloff/Getty The Hanks Family

As Hanks' career continued to grow during that time, Wilson says she never felt anything but happiness for him.

"Tom and I have always been supportive of each other and what we do," she says. "I remember doing press junkets back in the day, and interviewers would say to me, 'Gosh, it must be so difficult to be with someone so famous.' I would think, 'Why are they saying that?' Then I realized that the question was more about them and how they would feel in that situation than me."

"If you have someone who is happy for your success, and you're happy for their success, that's not even an issue that comes up," she continues. "You know about schadenfreude, when you're happy for someone's failure? Well, there's another concept called freudenfreude, which is when you're happy for someone's success. I live in the freudenfreude. Somebody else's success does not diminish my own."

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks on their wedding day

After all, Wilson says she "didn't even know you could aspire to be a bigger star" while growing up in Hollywood.

"To me, if I was working, that was satisfying," she says. "Acting is really the only job I've ever had, aside from being a ticket taker at a concert venue and working in retail for a couple of months in high school. So, I always came at it with the idea that I was doing something that I loved, and it just happened to be show business."

Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Rita Wilson in 1985

Though her kids are older now, Wilson says "parenting never ends" — it just becomes "different." While her son Truman appears as the younger version of Hanks' character in the upcoming film she co-produced, A Man Called Otto, Wilson says she totally stayed out of the process of casting him.

"Marc Forster, the director of A Man Called Otto, had the idea to meet with Truman for the role," she says. "I was like, 'Well, he's not an actor. He wants to be a cinematographer.' He was a math major at Stanford University, so he's got a very different brain. Marc was persistent though, and he said, 'Why don't I just go meet with him?'"

"I really stayed out of that process because I didn't want to influence it at all," she continues. "It's a director's decision, and I certainly didn't want to create any discomfort for my own son, like, 'Mom, why are you pressuring me to do this?' So staying out of it was a choice, but I'm proud of him for doing it."

RELATED: Tom Hanks Makes 'A Man Called Otto' Premiere a Family Affair with Wife Rita Wilson and Son Truman

Today, Wilson has shifted her focus to producing — she was instrumental in bringing the movies My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia! to life — as well as singing and songwriting.

"I've put a limit on taking a certain kind of role: the nurturing mother, wife, sister, friend," says Wilson, who launched her own production company, Artistic Films, earlier this month. "But I've found enormous creative satisfaction through my songwriting."

Rita Wilson and Sebastián Yatra

Wilson first embarked on her music career a decade ago, with the release of her debut album AM/FM. She was inspired to start songwriting after a conversation with her friend Bruce Springsteen.

"I came into music later in life, so it made me doubt myself because I knew there were people who had more experience than me," she says. "At the time, I asked Bruce, who is a family friend of ours: 'Bruce, what makes me think I can start writing now when you've been doing it all your life?' He said, 'Because, Reets, creativity is time independent.'"

"That absolutely blew my mind, because it's so true," she continues. "Nobody says, 'Oh, sorry, if you didn't become a success in your 20s doing this, there's no room for you now.' And it wasn't as if I was looking to become the next pop sensation. I was just thankful to have the opportunity to learn the craft and pursue it."

On her latest song, "Til You're Home," a duet with Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra for A Man Called Otto, Wilson explores the universal desire for a safe shelter during difficult times.

"Everybody wants to find a home or place that you feel most yourself," she says of the message behind the emotional ballad, which made the shortlist for an Oscar nomination on Dec. 21.

For Wilson, "home is where the family is, not where the house is," she says. "I have always said this because our job takes us so many different places. Family is my base and safe place."

A Man Called Otto hits select theaters Dec. 30 then everywhere Jan. 13.