Tom Hanks Praises Rita Wilson's Courage In Cancer Battle

The actress underwent a double mastectomy in April (15) after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she took a temporary leave of absence from a Broadway play to recover before returning to the stage.

Their son Colin Hanks recently revealed Rita is finally cancer-free, and Tom has now opened up about the effect the illness had on the family, crediting his wife of 27 years' bravery for speaking out about her health crisis.

"The only thing you can do when something like that comes along is drop everything and pay attention to it," he tells News.com.au. "It's a health crises that we all know is hell and however you deal with it, it's bold to keep the information close to the heart and it's also bold to say: 'Here's the deal, here comes breast cancer!' And after nine months of medical treatment she's finally finished."

However, Tom admits there was a dark side to going public with the cancer scare as the couple was swamped with offers for alternative treatments.

"As soon as you come out about cancer there's this odd kind of backlash that goes along with it," he explains. "There's a predatorily philosophy (sic) that happens where people find out that you have a certain illness, particularly cancer, and they will try and make money off of you, pushing procedures that might have a degree of science to them and there are others that are absolute quacks just trying to make money.

"You should Google the word (cancer). Everything from 'You must eat peach pits' to 'Go to this clinic in Bolivia and you'll be cured!' will come up. S**t goes on like that and it's astounding to me. It all adds to the difficulty, and we are lucky we can afford good medical care, but there are people who are dealing and selling in false hopes. All I can say is God bless my wife and God bless her courage."

When Rita went public with her illness, she revealed she hoped her experience would encourage more women to visit a doctor and press for answers.

"Early diagnosis is key," she said. "I feel blessed to have a loving, supportive husband, family, friends and doctors and that I am the beneficiary of advances in the field of breast cancer and reconstruction. I am getting better every day and look forward to renewed health... I hope this will encourage others to get a second opinion and to trust their instincts if something doesn't 'feel' right."