Rita Wilson asked husband Tom Hanks for just two things during her cancer battle more than a decade ago.
“I said to Tom, I’m like, ‘OK, if something happens and I go first, I just have two requests,’” Wilson, 69, said during the Sound of a Woman: Rita Wilson in Conversation with Demi Moore event at New York City’s 92NY on Tuesday, April 28, according to People.
The Jingle All the Way star recalled telling Hanks, 69, that he “should be sad for a very, very long time.”
As for Wilson’s second request?
“The second one was, throw me a party,” she continued. “I want it to be a celebration of life. I want it to be about people telling stories and joy and remembering me in that way. And I think people, a lot of people want that, you know? I think there’s room for that.”
Wilson’s request inspired her 2019 song “Throw Me a Party.”
“The song … it came out of this, this story I’ve told before,” she explained at the event. “But if you haven’t heard it, it was, when you get the diagnosis and you’re like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I hope I’m still here, you know, in a few years.’”
Wilson was diagnosed with an “invasive” form of breast cancer in 2015. She revealed to People at the time that she had been living with lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), a non-invasive condition where abnormal cells grow in the breast’s milk glands, and monitoring it “vigilantly” through annual mammograms and MRIs. However, “after two surgical breast biopsies,” her doctor discovered pleomorphic carcinoma in situ (PCIS), an aggressive variant of LCIS where abnormal cells appear larger and irregular.
After getting a second opinion, the “Songbird” singer said that “a different pathologist found invasive lobular carcinoma. His diagnosis of cancer was confirmed by yet another pathologist.”
“I share this to educate others that a second opinion is critical to your health,” Wilson continued. “You have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good, and everything to gain if something that was missed is found, which does happen. Early diagnosis is key.”
Wilson underwent a double mastectomy to treat the illness, followed by reconstructive surgery.
The Sleepless in Seattle star celebrated being 10 years cancer-free in March 2025.
“I am so deeply grateful,” she said in an Instagram video at the time. “I’m so thankful to my doctors. To my friends, to my family. The gratitude is overwhelming. Didn’t always feel this way. And you know that, anybody who’s going through [it, or] who’s survived knows that it’s an up and down, like, hamster wheel. But then you get to this point.”
