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Tom Hanks shares how his COVID-19 symptoms differed from Rita Wilson's

13:54
All the celebs and public figures who’ve said they’ve tested positive for COVID-19
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
ByGeorge Costantino
Video byFaith Bernstein
April 20, 2020, 1:53 PM

Tom Hanks recently gave his first public interview since returning from Australia and recovering from COVID-19 alongside his wife, Rita Wilson, giving a detailed description of the experience.

"Rita went through a tougher time than I did," the 63-year-old actor told Military Defense Radio. "She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell. She got absolutely no joy from food for a better part of three weeks."

Wilson, also 63, "was so nauseous, she had to crawl on the floor from the bed to the facilities," he said.

As for Hanks, he recalls having some "bad body aches" and feeling "very fatigued."

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Hanks was in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, in which he plays Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Production on the film was halted following the diagnosis, and he and Wilson were quarantined in a hospital for three days.

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"It was relatively early in Australia’s response to the coronavirus, and they wanted us to not give it to anyone else," he explains. "That’s why we were in lockdown."

Hanks says the virus weakened him to the point where he couldn't even do basic exercises, recalling, "I was wiped just 12 minutes into a 30-minute set."

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Hanks and Wilson announced their diagnoses in early March, making them the first celebrities to come down with the virus.

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