Tom Hanks on His Happy Marriage to Rita Wilson: ‘I Still Can’t Believe My Wife Goes Out with Me”

Tom Hanks may have figured out the formula for a successful blockbuster. But when it comes to his marriage, the secret to his successful union with Rita Wilson – 27 years and counting – remains something of a mystery.

“I wish there was a secret, you know,” Hanks, 59, said Thursday at the Outfest Legacy Awards in Los Angeles, where he was honored with a trailblazer award for his Oscar-winning role in Philadelphia. “We just like each other. You start there.”

When it comes to winning Rita, he’s still in awe.

“I still can’t believe my wife goes out with me,” Hanks said. “If we were in high school and I was just funny, I’d never have the courage to talk to her.”

Hanks, who is currently portraying hero pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger while filming Sully for director Clint Eastwood, attended the event solo – and joked about why.

“Where our house is, she would’ve had to leave last Thursday in order to get here on time,” said Hanks, who came straight to the event from working on the Universal Studios lot. “She stayed home and is recovering from her busy schedule.”

But don’t take her absence as a sign of martial strife – because he says they don’t have a lot of that.

“They say it must be hard work. No it’s not,” Hanks said. “Every now and again you know, you gotta get over some stuff but life is one damn thing after another and its actually more pleasant to be able to go home with someone you like to spend time with in order to get with it.”

And while Hanks says he doesn’t hold the magic formula to a happy marriage, he does have some advice.

“No one should get married before they’re 30,” he declared.