Tom Hanks And Rita Wilson Have Been Married For 34 Years Proving That True Love Does Last

Some relationships end too soon, especially in Hollywood but others transcend time. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's love story falls in the category of the latter having been married for 34 years; they have been through it all.  The actors celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on April 30. The pair wed in 1988 and share two children together, Chester "Chet" Hanks and Truman Theodore Hanks. Hanks and Wilson first met in 1981 on the set of ABC's sitcom Bosom Buddies in 1981  before co-starring in the movie Volunteers in 1985. In fact, they were just friends at first since Hanks was married to his college sweetheart, Samantha Lewes when he was just 21-years-old; Hanks married Lewes in 1978. The couple had their first child Colin the year before they got married and their second child, Elizabeth, in 1982. But the heart wants what it wants and Hanks' friendship with Wilson blossomed into something more.

Hanks and Lewes divorced in 1987 and hardly a year later, the Toy Story actor married actress Rita Wilson. With her, Hanks said he found a partner who just "gets it." "I don't think I'll ever be lonely anymore... that's how I felt when I met my wife," he said on BBC Radio.  Hanks, now 65, also admitted to GQ that there was an immediate spark between the two of them, per the Daily Mail. "Rita and I just looked at each other and — kaboing — that was that. I asked Rita if it was the real thing for her, and it just couldn't be denied."

But what is the secret of their not only long-lasting but also content relationship? "I view my wife as my lover, and we have a bond that goes beyond words like wife or girlfriend or mother," he told Oprah in 2001. "For example, I was able to construct a number of things in Philadelphia [1993] because of my relationship with Rita. The success of our relationship was a matter of timing, maturity, and our willingness to have an intimate connection," Hanks continued. "When I married Rita, I thought, 'This is going to require some change on my part.' I won't deny that providence was part of us finding each other, but our relationship isn't magic—the way it's shown in movies. In real life, our connection is as concrete as me sitting here. Not that marriage doesn't come close to being hell in a handbasket sometimes. But we both know that no matter what, we'll be with each other—and we'll get through it." He also added that friendship plays an important role in their dynamic. “In addition to being my lover. And it has been that way from the very beginning,” he added. “We laugh just as much now at two in the morning as we always have. And we fight less and less.”

Wilson, also 65, feels the same way and once told  Kelly Clarkson on her daytime talk show that the Oscar winner's loquacious characteristic was "one of the things, when we met, that we just got along instantly." "First of all, I love a good storyteller," she said. "So anybody who could tell a good story, I’m down with that." The two have also stood by each other through tough times. In 2015 Wilson revealed to PEOPLE that she had undergone a double mastectomy and reconstruction after being diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time she was worried about how her husband would react, but she felt completely safe and secure with him. "You never know how your spouse is going to react in a situation like this," Wilson told the New York Times. "I was so amazed, so blown away by the care my husband gave me ... who knew it would make you even closer?"