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Monday October 14, 2024

Tom Hanks sends love to a bullied kid named Corona: 'You got a friend in me'

The boy told Tom Hanks that while he loved his name, he had been subjected to bullying at school

By Web Desk
April 23, 2020
The boy told Tom Hanks that while he loved his name, he had been subjected to bullying at school

Hollywood actor Tom Hanks wrote back to a bullied Australian kid named Corona, and sent him a typewriter of a namesake brand.

An eight-year-old boy, named Corona De Vries, from Queensland’s Gold Coast wrote to the Academy Award winner, after he and wife Rita Wilson recovered from the coronavirus that they had contracted during their tour in Australia.

In a letter sent to Hanks, the boy had written: “I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus,” Channel 7 News reported. “Are you ok?”

He further told the actor that while he loved his name, he had been subjected to bullying at school which made him feel “sad and angry.”

Writing back to Corona, Hanks said: “Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful!”

“You know, you are the only person I’ve ever known to have the name Corona — like the ring around the sun, a crown,” he added.

“I thought this typewriter would suit you. Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back.”

Signing off, Hanks wrote: “P.S. You got a friend in ME!”