Rita Wilson told Tom Hanks after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2015 that if she were to die, she wanted him to be “sad for a very long time.”
The actress recalled the couple’s heartfelt conversation about her health battle while speaking with Demi Moore at the Sound of a Woman: Rita Wilson in Conversation event at 92nd Street Y in New York City on Tuesday.
“I said to Tom, I’m like, ‘OK, if, if something happens and I go first, I just have two requests. And one is that you should be sad for a very, very long time,’” Wilson, 69, revealed, per People.
“I want it to be a celebration of life,” Wilson remembered telling Hanks. “I want it to be about people telling stories and joy and remembering me in that way.”
“And I think people, a lot of people want that, you know?” she added. “I think there’s room for that.”
Wilson, who has been married to Hanks since 1988, underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after doctors found “invasive” cancer in 2015.
The “Sleepless in Seattle” star told Moore that her 2019 song “Throw Me a Party” was inspired by her and Hank’s conversation after her diagnosis.
“The song … it came out of this, this story I’ve told before, but if you haven’t heard it, it was, when you get the diagnosis and you’re like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I hope I’m still here, you know, in a few years,’” Wilson told the crowd.
After reflecting on her cancer battle, Wilson happily told the crowd, “I’m here. Yay!”
In March 2025, Wilson marked a decade since she was cancer-free with a heartfelt Instagram post.
“10 years. And I am so deeply grateful,” Wilson told her followers.
