What Happened to Susan Dillingham? Tom Hanks’ First Wife and the 2025 Memoir Exposé

Actress Susan Dillingham, better known by her stage name Samantha Lewes, was once known primarily as the first wife of Hollywood icon Tom Hanks. But in 2025, over two decades after her death, her name has resurfaced in headlines—this time through the heartbreaking and deeply personal revelations made by her daughter, Elizabeth Ann (E.A.) Hanks, in a new memoir.

Here’s a closer look at what happened to Susan Dillingham, her legacy, and the claims now emerging from her family.

What happened to Susan Dillingham?

Susan Dillingham passed away in 2002 at the age of 49, following a battle with lung cancer. At the time, she had long since stepped away from the public spotlight. Once an aspiring actress, she had appeared in small roles during the early 1980s, including a part in the TV series Bosom Buddies, which starred then-husband Tom Hanks.

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In 2025, Susan’s name is making headlines again after her daughter, E.A. Hanks, released her memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, in which she describes her late mother as emotionally and physically abusive throughout her childhood.

Who was Susan Dillingham?

Born in 1952, Susan Jane Dillingham met Tom Hanks while the two were students at Sacramento State University. They married in 1979 and had two children: Colin Hanks (born 1977), who would follow in his father’s acting footsteps, and Elizabeth Ann Hanks (born 1982).

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Following their divorce in 1987, Susan retained primary custody of the children and relocated to Sacramento. Her decision to move—abrupt and without warning, according to her daughter—left a lasting impression on the family dynamic.

New allegations from daughter E.A. Hanks

In her memoir, E.A. Hanks paints a troubling portrait of life with her mother. She describes a home filled with “confusion, violence, deprivation, and love.” According to the book, her mother was often withdrawn, isolating herself in her room, obsessively reading the Bible, and neglecting basic responsibilities like feeding her children.

“The fridge was bare or full of expired food more often than not, and my mother spent more and more time in her big four-poster bed,” she writes.

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E.A. also shares that her mother’s behavior became increasingly erratic and violent over time. Eventually, after a particularly violent incident when E.A. was in seventh grade, she moved to Los Angeles to live with her father and his wife, actress Rita Wilson.

Tom Hanks’ reaction and past reflections

While Tom Hanks has not publicly responded to his daughter’s latest claims, he has previously spoken about the guilt he felt after his first marriage ended.

“I felt like I was a complete, abject, total failure,” Hanks said in a past interview. “You work through that till you figure out that, number one, you have been an idiot, but number two, you’re no longer an idiot.”

Allegations of family trauma and mystery

In one of the most shocking revelations from the memoir, E.A. Hanks discloses that her mother had written about her own father, John Raymond Dillingham, in private journals—alleging that he may have been involved in the murder of a young girl. That claim has led E.A. to embark on a journey to uncover her maternal family’s hidden and painful history.

Susan Dillingham’s legacy in 2025

Once remembered as the quiet figure behind one of America’s most famous actors, Susan Dillingham’s legacy is now being re-examined in the public eye. Her daughter’s memoir reveals the complexity, trauma, and silence that often surround the lives of those on the edges of fame.

While Susan Dillingham passed away more than 20 years ago, her story—and the impact it had on her children—is now being told in raw, unfiltered detail.