Tom Hanks Elaborates On COVID-19 Symptoms, Including “Bad Body Aches”

By Anita Bennett, Deadline
Published April 19, 2020, 12:26 p.m. ET

Days after briefly mentioning his coronavirus diagnosis on last weekend’s remote episode of Saturday Night Live, Tom Hanks offered more insight into what he went through while quarantined in Australia.

The Oscar-winning actor spoke with “The National Defense Radio Show” on Thursday, and said the virus affected his wife Rita Wilson differently.

“Rita went through a tougher time than I did,” Hanks told host Randy Miller. “She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell.”

“I had some bad body aches and was very fatigued, and that’s how the COVID-19 went through us,” he said.

Hanks, 63, noted that they were isolated in an Australian hospital for three days after they first tested positive.

“It was relatively early in Australia’s response to the coronavirus, and they wanted us to not give it to anyone else,” he said. “That’s why we were in lockdown.”

While undergoing treatment, Hanks said he tried to stay active by doing a 30-minute routine of stretching, floor exercises and “old man kind of things,” but he never made it through a full session. “I was wiped after 12 minutes,” he said.

The radio show brought Hanks on because of his volunteer work with veterans and their families.