Rita Wilson is reflecting on that time last year, when she and her husband Tom Hanks were diagnosed with coronavirus.
The couple, both 64, were in Australia when they started to feel ‘very tired and in pain’ and were hospitalized two days later.
Wilson shared more details of that scary period of their lives in an Instagram post, saying ‘I want to take a moment to say how grateful we are for our health.’
A year later: Rita Wilson, 64, reflects on her and husband Tom Hanks’ diagnosis of coronavirus a year later, after the couple was hospitalized in Australia after a positive test.
‘A year ago I was playing at the Sydney Opera House, the next day I started to feel very tired and in pain, two days later I was hospitalized with Covid 19.
‘I want to take a moment to say how grateful we are for our health, how grateful we are for the medical care we received in Queensland and that we share the sadness of every person who has lost a loved one with this virus.
She added: ‘I am hopeful that so many will be able to get the vaccine’, while saying that she feels blessed because the music carried her through this busy year and was ‘very healing’.
Last year, on March 11, Hanks first shared the news of his positive diagnosis via Instagram.
Hospital care: the celebrity couple was placed in medical isolation at Gold Coast University Hospital for two weeks to prevent infection. Hanks revealed that Wilson’s symptoms were worse than his
Livelihood: Although Wilson had no taste or smell, Hanks took an Instagram photo of vegemite with toast from his visit to the hospital last year, writing ‘Thanks to the Helpers. We will take care of ourselves and each other ‘; pictured on March 15, 2020
“We feel a little tired, as if we have a cold and some pain in the body. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To do things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for coronavirus and it was positive, ‘he shared.
They were the first high-profile celebrities to have a positive diagnosis when so much about the virus was still unknown, and were forced to be quarantined in Queensland, where Hanks was filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley film.
In an interview with the National Defense Radio Program, Hanks revealed the severity of Wilson’s symptoms, which were worse than his own. ‘Rita went through a more difficult period than I did. She had a much higher fever and some other symptoms. She lost her sense of taste and smell, ‘he shared.
The Forrest actor Gump also shared that his side effects of hydroxychloroquine – which was administered due to her high fever – caused her nausea so extreme that she had to ‘crawl on the floor of the bed to the premises.’
Hollywood success: Wilson and Hanks were the first high-profile celebrities to have a positive diagnosis when much of the virus was still unknown, and they were forced to be quarantined in Queensland, where Hanks was filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley film ; photographed in May 2019
Wilson – who also survived breast cancer – spoke with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Hager on TODAY, a month after she was admitted to the hospital, while she shared how the cancer helped prepare her for COVID-19.
‘You hear stories and think,’ It happens to someone out there, ‘and I told Tom, after I had cancer, that I don’t think things happen to other people. They can happen to you too, ‘she shared.
She continued: ‘So, I mentioned it to him. I said, “You know, we can get the coronavirus. There’s nothing to say that we shouldn’t be getting it,” and two days later, we received a positive diagnosis. ‘
Other celebrities who tested positive for the relentless virus include Idris Elba, Andy Cohen, The Rock, Colton Underwood (The Bachelor), Zoey Deutch, Lena Dunham and the late Nick Cordero.
On guard: Wilson spoke to TODAY a month after being admitted to the hospital, where she reflected on how to survive breast cancer, which gave her a new perspective that the coronavirus could ‘happen to her too’, and two days later she and Hanks tested positive; pictured in February 2020