Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson receive citizenship of Greece

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are having a great year. They are officially citizens of Greece, as per the country’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

A point of pride for Greece was moved by discussion Monday, as the nation’s prime minister was criticized by an opposition party for using a military helicopter during a trip to celebrate with Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, on being allowed Greek citizenship.

“@ritawilson @tomhanks are now proud Greek citizens!” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday, shared a photo demonstrating him and his wife Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotaki standing with Hanks and Wilson. Hanks and Wilson are seen holding Greek passports.

Greece offered citizenship to Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and their two children, in acknowledgment of the family’s help in raising funds for the victims of a dangerous wildfire close to Athens in 2018.

Rita Wilson, an actress, and producer, has Greek and Bulgarian family line.

Hanks joined the Greek Orthodox Church after wedding Wilson, who has Greek parentage, in 1988. The couple owns property on the island of Antiparos and has created a handful of movies about Greek communities, including “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Mamma Mia!” and both of the film’s sequels.

“Greece is a haven,” Tom Hanks told journalists at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. “I’ve been around the world, I’ve been to the most beautiful places in the world, none of them tops Greece. The land, the sky, the water, it’s good for the soul, it’s a healing place.”

Delegates for Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks didn’t quickly react to NBC News’ requests for comment, in any case, Hanks reported via social media in January that he was “starting 2020 as an Honorary citizen of all of Greece!” after Greece’s President Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed an honorary naturalization order permitting him to claim Greek citizenship.

As indicated by Greek law, honorary naturalization is given to a “foreign national who has offered special services to Greece or if his or her naturalization may serve the country’s interest.”

Prior this year, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson recuperated from the coronavirus in Australia, where Hanks was filming an Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann. The couple was the first significant celebrities to openly share their coronavirus diagnoses.