Rita Wilson Gets Real: How Losing Her Mom Reshaped Her Bond with Tom Hanks' Kids

Rita Wilson isn’t holding back. Losing her mother was a game-changer.

“Even though she was my best friend, and I thought I had asked her everything that I could possibly want to ask her, still there’s things I wish I had asked her, that I wish I had known," she reflects on her late mother Dorothy, who succumbed to Alzheimer's in 2014. “You never forget when you lose your mom,” the 69-year-old actress and singer states bluntly.

On her latest album, Sound of a Woman, Wilson dives deep into the mother-daughter connection with the poignant track "Your Mother." The lyrics resonate: "I know it’s hard for you to see / There was someone else she used to be..." It’s a heartfelt reminder that every moment counts.

As a mother to actor sons Chet, 35, and Truman, 30, with Tom Hanks, plus stepmom to Colin, 48, and writer E.A., 43, Wilson admits that her loss has transformed how she interacts with her kids. “For my kids nowadays, I’m probably a bit more unfiltered with them. I just tell them things all the time,” she shares. “It’s really that desire to just feel that you’re really known, that there’s no barriers to being with your family.”

She urges listeners to seize the moment: “Ask their moms the questions while they're still alive.” It’s a call to action wrapped in love.

Reflecting on her journey, Wilson conjures a metaphor from her mother’s crocheted blankets. “All of the experiences that I’ve had that have led me to this point are part of every stitch and every hook that pulls through that cotton,” she explains. “I feel like I’m able to see more of the blanket now than I used to be able to see.”

In a previous chat, Wilson revealed why she hit the brakes on her career while raising her kids. “I really wanted to be the mom that was there when they got home,” she said. “If both of us were working and not home, my kids would have been affected.”