Did Rita Wilson Just Drop Her Version of Lemonade?
LatestAfter watching the video for Rita Wilson’s “Forgiving Me, Forgiving You” for the first time, I pulled my chair closer to my computer and clicked play again. Once it ended, I rolled even closer and listened a second time. By listen number three, my trembling body was so close to the screen that my stomach was being pressed against my spine. I sat there, riveted, with earbuds far deeper into my ear canals than any otolaryngologist would deem safe, thinking, “Did Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks cheat on each other?”
Though it’s easy to imagine their marriage as blemish-free and without hardship (Look how happy they always look together!!!!! They both love Chet so much!!!!!!), the truth contains the kinds of messy imperfections found in all human relationships. Nobody’s perfect—not even Tom Hanks.
His relationship with Wilson—one of Hollywood’s longest lasting—began on the set of the 1985 film Volunteers, while Hanks was still married to his first wife (the late Samantha Lewes). In a 2006 interview, Hanks recalled those early days with Wilson, saying, “Well, yeah, I did happen to be married at the time. And there’s nothing to celebrate about that.”
But even thought their marriage began with an act of infidelity, it’s all be happy trails ever since, right? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. The video for “Forgiving Me, Forgiving You,” a track from Wilson’s second LP Rita Wilson, dropped as an Us Weekly exclusive today. And it suggests their marriage hasn’t been as picture-perfect as their red carpet appearances have made it seem. “Thank god,” part of me is quietly saying. “They’ve got as many problems as everyone else!”
But another part of me CAN. NOT. FUCKING. BE. LIEVE. THIS. SHIT. Did Rita Wilson, star of Sleepless In Seattle, just drop her own version of Lemonade, only instead of a visual album about Jay Z, love, pain, forgiveness, and black female solidarity released exclusively on HBO on a Saturday night, it’s a single music video about Tom Hanks, love, pain, and forgiveness released exclusively on Us Weekly on a Thursday morning?
First, let’s examine the accompanying interview. When discussing the writing process, she said (emphasis mine):
“I wanted to make sure everything was—even though there are songs like ballads and up-tempos and all of that—that’s really who I am. That’s my personality. Like, I’m equally the woman in ‘Girls Night In’ as I am the person in ‘Forgiving Me Forgiving You’ or in ‘Along for the Ride.’”
With that quote, we are given confirmation that the story being told is one she has lived. She is a woman who loves chilling with her girlfriends, and she is a woman who is both asking forgiveness from and offering forgiveness to her lover. In other words, this song is her truth.
So. Let’s examine it.
Sitting on the edge of what, I don’t know
There’s a line in the sand. Do I stay? Do I go?
Nobody here to clean up our mess.
Where we end up is anyone’s guess.
In this verse, Wilson admits that she’s contemplating leaving her marriage. (Do I stay? Do I go?) But note the use of “our” in the third line. This is their mess. Not one person’s. Both parties have erred.