Chet Hanks offered a deeply personal look at his struggles with addiction and self-worth, saying he didn’t find peace until he stopped trying to control everything and gave it to God.
Hanks reflected on the emotional burden of growing up in the shadow of Tom Hanks, his journey through rehab and the lessons he’s learned since an appearance on “Artist Friendly with Joel Madden.”
The 35-year-old actor said life changed for him when he embraced gratitude for life’s simplest moments rather than focusing on opportunities that weren’t coming.
“I did notice that once I learned to truly love the simple s—, it made … my career happen a lot smoother,” he told host Joel Madden. “Like, that’s actually the game changer that shifted everything in my career.”
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“Like, once I was like, I don’t have s—. I’m broke. Like, I’m fresh outta rehab or whatever. I got nothing going on. No opportunity’s happening. Nobody’s calling my phone. Nobody’s f—ing, I don’t even have an audition. Music? No one gives a f— about my music. You know what I mean?” he added.
“But I was so grateful to just have a spot, have my bike, wake up in the morning. Wow. It’s a beautiful day. I’m gonna go for a walk.”
The actor said embracing gratitude after rehab ultimately led him to surrender his worries to God rather than trying to control every outcome.
“When I got to that point, that’s when the phone started ringing,” he explained. “You know what I’m saying? It’s an energetic thing. …. I truly believe that. I feel like we are trained to think that we have to hustle and grind to make s— happen. And, to some extent, that’s true.
“But, for me, I can truly say that when I was putting it all on myself, I gotta grind. I gotta hustle. I gotta think of something. I gotta come up with a plan. I gotta f—ing do this. I gotta f—ing wait. You know what I mean? I got nowhere. Like, it was always just one f—ing obstacle after the other.”
Instead of relying solely on hustle, Hanks said he found peace by placing his faith in God.
“It felt like I was just never making any progress. When I truly let go, and I’m like, you know what, f— all that. I gotta just enjoy the simple s— and trust God. And what I’m worrying about I give it to God. I tell God, ‘Yo God, check this out. This is what I’m worrying about. I’m stressed about this. I don’t know what the f— I’m gonna do. I don’t gotta answer. I’m giving it to you. You deal with it. Please. Amen.’ That’s when s— started happening.”
Reflecting on his addiction, Hanks offered a candid explanation for what drew him to drugs in the first place.
“See, that was my problem, is that I liked not being in control. That was like the thrill of it.”
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Hanks also looked back on his childhood, explaining how growing up as the son of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars shaped his self-worth. He admitted he was “hyper aware” of how people interacted with him to the point that it “was like an overload.”
“There’s so much information that I’m picking up on,” Hanks said. “These micro things that I’m aware of, that was so overwhelming, that the way I dealt with it was just tune it out completely,” he explained. “Because if I didn’t shut it off completely, I would be consumed by it. And that kind of created its own monster.”
He explained that those feelings made him crave a sense of freedom that had eluded him for years.
“The circumstances I was born into was, like, I didn’t feel like I needed to meet the bar. I felt like I had to excel past the bar in order for me to just … live up to who I thought I should be,” he explained.
Those pressures became deeply internalized, according to Hanks.
“Over long periods of time, the result, for me at least, was to internalize it – forming the belief that there is something wrong with me,” he admitted.
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Hanks said the emotional toll boiled down to one overwhelming feeling.
“Like, really what it is is just feeling worthless,” Hanks said. “I felt worthless. You know what I’m saying? People ask me, ‘What was it like for you growing up?’ … They have an idea in their head, like, of like some, like f—ing awesome.
“That wasn’t it dude,” he emphasized. “And that wasn’t it. It was, like, just feeling f—ing worthless.”
Hanks revealed his Nashville trailer home represents the freedom he spent years searching for after addiction and growing up in the shadow of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
“I just love the feeling of, like, freedom,” he told Madden. “That, to me, is, I realize, like, that that’s the most important thing in life for me, hands down.”
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Hanks traded swanky apartment living for a Nashville trailer park while pursuing his country music dreams.
He launched his country music career in 2025 as he created his band, Something Out West, with collaborator Drew Arthur. The duo released “Leaving Hollywood” and recently performed at the Stagecoach Festival.
Looking back on his journey, Hanks said one lesson stands above all the rest.
“I just feel like gratitude is the key to unlocking everything,” he explained. “Because if you’re not grateful for, at least, you could have a s—– job that you hate. But if you’re not at least grateful in that s—– job for your health, for your loved ones. Then if you don’t learn the importance of gratitude when you don’t have s—, you’re not gonna learn it If you get all the s—.”
“And even if you get all the s—, if you’ve never learned why you have to be grateful, then it won’t even f—ing matter, and you won’t even enjoy it,” Hanks noted. “And then what’s the point?”
