Four years ago, Rita Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer — and beat it.
Now she is opening up about her experience through her music, and through an Instagram post where she reveals what it was like to tell her husband, Tom Hanks, about her diagnosis.
Tom and Rita met while filming “Volunteers” in 1985.
The two were immediately drawn to each other.
“Rita and I just looked at each other and — ka-boing — that was that. I asked Rita if it was the real thing for her, and it just couldn’t be denied,” Tom told GQ
The pair were married three years later.
It didn’t take them long to realize that they were meant to be.
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I guess when you know, you know .
They have now been married for 31 years. Talk about marriage goals, amirite?
They still seem very much in love — especially after going through hell and back together.
Rita was diagnosed with breast cancer in April, 2015.
She revealed that she had undergone a double mastectomy to combat the cancer, and reconstructive surgery.
She told People that she felt “blessed” to have the support of her friends and family, and the doctors who saved her life.
Today, Rita is living in good health — cancer-free.
But her diagnosis brought awareness of just how fragile life can be. Luckily she had a loving, supportive parter by her side through the whole thing.
“Last week, with my husband by my side, and with the love and support of family and friends, I underwent a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction for breast cancer after a diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma,” she said.
“I am recovering and most importantly, expected to make a full recovery. Why? Because I caught this early, have excellent doctors and because I got a second opinion,” she added .
Although her pathology showed that the cancer was gone, she wanted to get a second opinion just to be safe.
“I share this to educate others that a second opinion is critical to your health. You have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good, and everything to gain if something that was missed is found, which does happen. Early diagnosis is key,” she said .
But even her second diagnosis confirmed that Rita was in the clear.
Fast forward to earlier this week, Rita decided to share how she told her husband about her diagnosis, and how thankful she is to have beat cancer .
On Tuesday, Rita explained when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, how she delivered the news to Tom.
“Four years ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I had so many different thoughts,” she wrote .
“You’re scared, anxious, you think about your own mortality.”
“So I had a serious discussion with my husband that if anything happens, I wanted him to be super sad for a very long time,” she said.
and I’d also like a party, a celebration,” she added .
Apparently the celebration of life idea inspired the first single on her upcoming album, “Throw Me A Party”.
Which was one of the silver linings to her battle against cancer.
Rita revealed on her website that the crisis of being diagnosed with cancer defined much of her new album, “Halfway To Home”.
“Songs come from many places and this one came from questioning what I wanted to have happened after I died,” she wrote .
“When you go through a crisis so many things cross your mind. Instead of avoiding those thoughts, we wrote a song!”
“It was very personal, and it really defined a lot of the album,” she added.
Rita’s album was released today.
The wait is finally over.
This will be Rita’s fourth studio album, and quite possibly, the most personal one — as she pulled a lot of inspiration from her cancer diagnosis.
But we are all very glad and relieved to know that Rita is cancer-free, and focusing on the things she loves.
What do you think of Rita’s latest album ?
