E.A. Hanks is Tom’s only daughter from his previous marriage to Susan.
And while her siblings caught the filmmaking bug, she pursued a different career path.
Previously a writer for Vanity Fair, E.A. has contributed to outlets like TIME, The Guardian and The New York Times. She’s also an author, with her book The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road dropping April 8, 2025.
According to a description from publisher Simon & Schuster, the book details E.A.’s journey as she “follows the same route as a long-ago road trip with her mother in an attempt to better understand the complicated woman who gave her life.”
In a book excerpt shared by People, E.A. looks back at the time following her parents’ split in which Susan had custody of her and Colin while Tom saw the kids on the weekends. But one day, she continued, her mom moved them from L.A. to Sacramento without giving their dad a heads-up.
“My dad came to pick us up from school and we’re not there,” E.A wrote. “And it turns out we haven’t been there for two weeks and he has to track us down.”
In the book, E.A. also shared her experience of living with her mom, writing the backyard was “full of dog s–t,” “the house stank of smoke,” and the “fridge was bare or full of expired food.”
“One night, her emotional violence became physical violence,” E.A. wrote, “and in the aftermath I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade.”
