Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson Spotted Holding Hands In Australia Prior To Positive Coronavirus Diagnosis

Just days before being diagnosed with COVID-19, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were in high spirits while strolling around in Australia, hand in hand.

UPDATE (3/17/20, 7:12 p.m. ET): Tom Hanks had “good news” for fans a week after he and Rita Wilson tested positive for the new coronavirus! On March 17, he took to Twitter and announced, “Hey folks. Good News: One week after testing Positive, in self-isolation, the symptoms are much the same. No fever but the blahs. Folding the laundry and doing the dishes lead to a nap on the couch. Bad news: My wife has won 6 straight hands of Gin Rummy and leads by 201 points. But I have learned not to spread my Vegemite so thick. I travelled here with a typewriter, one I used to love. We are all in this together. Flatten the curve. Hanx.”

ORIGINAL: Five days before shocking fans and revealing that they had been diagnosed with COVID-19, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were spotted holding hands in a crowded area of Australia. The married couple were spotted taking a stroll on the famed Bondi Beach on March 7, looking happy as can be. Tom and Rita, both 63, held hands and smiled as they walked around in casual outfits. They later stopped to grab drinks and a bite to eat with a friend. And no, there were no outward signs that either actor were suffering from the dreaded novel coronavirus at this point.

Tom announced their diagnosis on Instagram in a statement accompanying a trashcan labeled “biohazard” that contained a single latex glove. “Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia,” the A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood star wrote. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.” He went on to say that they would quarantine themselves and undergo further testing and observation. Tom is in Australia to film an Elvis Presley biopic, in which he plays the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Production on the film has been halted in light of the couple’s diagnosis, according to Warner Bros.

The beloved actors received an outpouring of love and support from their concerned friends in Hollywood. Son Colin Hanks, 42, thanked the well-wishers in a March 12 Instagram statement, writing, “We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from everyone. My parents are receiving excellent care in Australia and are doing well (and in good spirits) given the circumstances. Despite the fact that I’m in LA and haven’t seen them in over three weeks, we have been in constant contact and [I] am confident that they will make a full recovery.”

Another one of Tom and Rita’s sons, Chet Hanks, 29, said that his parents are doing well in the most Chet Haze way possible. “I just got off the phone with them,” he said in an Instagram video. “They are both fine. They’re not even that sick. They’re not worried about it, they’re not trippin’. But they’re going through the necessary health precautions. I don’t think it’s anything to be too worried about. I appreciate everyone’s concern and well wishes, but I think it’s all going to be alright.”