There may have been some sordid speculation about Michelle Obama spending time in Italy with Tom Hanks, but the truth of the matter was the “Captain Phillips” star is friends with both her and Barack Obama. A few months before the yacht excursion, Michelle and Barack had dinner with Hanks and Rita Wilson in Greece, per the Daily Mail. The former POTUS and first lady also brought their two daughters.
In fact, the Obamas have a history of hanging out on yachts with “The Green Mile” actor. They were photographed spending time on a 450-foot yacht together in Tahiti in April 2017. Oprah Winfrey and Bruce Springsteen were also along for the ride. Afterwards, the talk show magnate was tight-lipped about their vacation. “What happens on the boat, stays on the boat,” Winfrey jokingly told People at the time.
The same month that photos of the star-studded yacht voyage leaked, Hanks offered up some details about his time with Michelle and Barack. “Look, imagine what it could’ve been like it, triple it. It was off the scale, fantastic,” Hanks playfully said while speaking about the Polynesian getaway on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in April 2017. Similar to Winfrey, the actor joked that his time with the presidential couple was a private matter. “I’d like to share a ton of stories from it, but they’re classified,” Hanks said. Besides vacationing together, Hanks and the Obamas had a long history of meeting up at professional and personal events.
