Tom Hanks gifted a vintage Corona typewriter to an Australian boy who has been bullied for having a name associated with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Australian television network Channel 7 News reported on Thursday (April 23) that Queenland's Corona De Vries, 8, feels like he's famous since receiving the gift from the Hollywood titan. As for as how the gift came about, the child wrote to Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, after the two had spent more than two weeks in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus in an Australian beach resort. "I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus. Are you OK?" Corona wrote in the letter. He went on to admit that while he loved his name, people at school called him the coronavirus, which made him "sad and angry."
"Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful!" Hanks replied in his own letter, which was typed on a Corona typewriter. "You know, you are the only person I've ever known to have the name Corona -- like the ring around the sun, a crown."
Hanks continued sharing positivity with the young boy, admitting that he thought the typewriter "would suit" him. "Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back," he concluded, adding, "P.S. You got a friend in ME."
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