Tom Hanks appeared on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and spoke about his battle with and recovery from coronavirus.
Hanks announced in mid-March that he and his wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19. The 64-year-old actor and the 63-year-old singer had been in Australia for the filming of Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Elvis Presley biopic and had been spending some time in Sydney when they started feeling under the weather. After getting their test results, Hanks and Wilson were taken to the hospital and isolated. Still, they kept their fans updated on their health by posting about their care and conditions on social media. Hanks and Wilson were then released from the hospital less than a week later and continued to quarantine at their home in Australia. They returned to the U.S. near the end of March after recovering from COVID-19.
During his interview with Stephen Colbert, Hanks was asked if he and Wilson were shocked by their initial test results.
"Yes, we were," the Oscar winner replied. "We had no idea how it could have happened or where it would have happened."
He also recalled how they had "very different symptoms."
"She had a higher fever than I did. She had horrible nausea," the Forrest Gump star said, noting that Wilson also had a headache. In addition, Hanks said his spouse lost her sense of taste and smell while he didn't.
"We were eating takeout food that I thought was delicious," he remembered. "It was savory goodness. It had butter sauces. It had come from a thing, highly recommended joint. And she was saying, 'This tastes like oatmeal to me.' I thought she was insane."
The Cast Away celebrity also said he "had bones that felt like they were made out of soda crackers," "bone-crushing fatigue" and a sore rear end.
"It felt like your older brother had held you down and just kept fisting you in the buttocks, you know, until you'd said something like, 'I love Flipper'….It felt like I hit my butt. It was just so sore," he said.
Hanks said it took him about "eight, nine days" to recover. The A-lister has since donated his plasma and continues to urge people to wear masks, practice social distancing and wash their hands.
"I think the least you can do in the United States of America and around the world is wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance," he said.
Watch the videos to see his interview.