Until recently, he was perhaps best known as Chet Haze. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s rapper son had been making headlines for his cringeworthy behavior and rehab stints since he first confessed to cocaine addiction on Instagram in 2015.
“As a parent, you love your kids unconditionally,” Tom, who’s expressed regret over mistakes he made with his children, told Entertainment Tonight back then, praising his son’s bravery. “You support them every step of the way.”
There have been a lot more steps — and stumbles — since, but the Oscar winner kept his word. And on The Drew Barrymore Show on March 18, Chet announced that he’s been sober for three-and-a-half years and he couldn’t have done it without his family.
“I’m really, really grateful for both my parents,” Chet told Drew Barrymore. “They’ve stuck with me through thick and thin.”
Chet Hanks’ Rough Years
They first tried to get him help back in 2008.
“I had been a really good, innocent kid my whole life. And then one day I just make that leap …smoking weed, getting drunk and doing stupid s–t,” the 34-year-old shared on the “Raw Talk” podcast last year.
Tom and Rita, both 68, staged an intervention and sent Chet to a “wilderness camp,” he told the Ivan Paychecks podcast in 2022. But his issues returned, and Chet started smoking crack and selling drugs.
After his 2015 rehab stint, he relapsed again and finally hit rock bottom in 2021. That January, he posted a shocking video about a violent confrontation with his then-girlfriend, Kiana Parker.
“She just attacked me with a knife,” a bleeding Chet told the camera, accusing her of stealing from him. She denied stabbing him and alleged he’d “pushed” her. The pair continued trading devastating domestic violence accusations as they sued each other.
A few months later, a three-day cocaine binge left Chet “broke,” “strung out” and 27 pounds thinner, he said on The Surreal Life last year, so he sought treatment again.
“I just knew, man, if I don’t change my life in a drastic way, either I’m not even going to be around or something so bad is going to happen that my life might as well be over.”
Through it all, his parents “never gave up on him,” a source exclusively dishes to In Touch. “They couldn’t be prouder of his continued sobriety and his recent accomplishments. They did their best as parents and it seems to have paid off.”
And now his life is back on track.
Chet and his ex dropped their dueling lawsuits in 2023, and this year, the single dad to 9-year-old daughter Michaiah (mom is ex-girlfriend Tiffany Miles) reinvented himself again. He’s making new music as part of country duo Something Out West and starring on the hit Netflix show Running Point.
“If I wasn’t sober, none of these opportunities would even be possible,” says the actor, who admits his parents played a big part in his achieving sobriety. “They’ve always been super supportive of me,” Chet said during his appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. “And I don’t take it for granted!”
“[My family] stuck with me through thick and thin, and I’m really just grateful for where we’re all at, the things I got going in my life, all the beautiful people in my life, my relationships, my loved ones. I’ve gotten to the point where I fully understand that those are the most important things, by far. And everything else is like a bonus.”
“When you’re doing the right thing, you make your loved ones more proud,” he told Drew of Tom and Rita, adding that he cherishes time with family and friends more than anything else. “I’ve got to the point where I fully understand that those are the most important things by far and everything else is a bonus.”
