Per Australian television networks, Tom Hanks has sent a letter and a Corona brand typewriter to a child who wrote to him about being bullied over his name, Corona.
Eight-year-old Corona De Vries, who hails from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, wrote to the Forrest Gump actor after he and his wife, Rita Wilson, spent over two weeks in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
"I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus," Channel 7 News reported. "Are you ok?" He went onto say that while he loves his name, people at school had taken to calling him the coronavirus, which made him "sad and angry".
Watch as Chet Hanks speaks about his parents' coronavirus diagnosis:"Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful!" Hanks replied in a letter typed on the same Corona typewriter that he had taken to the Gold Coast. "You know, you are the only person I've ever known to have the name Corona - like the ring around the sun, a crown."
"I thought this typewriter would suit you. Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back," he continued, per an image of the letter that was aired by Channel 7 News.
Hanks handwrote at the end,"P.S. You got a friend in ME!" - referencing the famous line said by his character, Woody, in Toy Story.
The actor was one of the first celebrities to reveal that they had contracted COVID-19, along with his wife, actress Rita Wilson.
Hanks announced that he and Rita had tested positive on social media on March 12th, writing: "Hello, folks. @ritawilson and I are down here in Australia. 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."
''Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hankses will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We'll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves! Hanx!"
The pair have since reportedly recovered from COVID-19.
