Tom Hanks has written a letter of support to an Australian boy called Corona who is being bullied because of his name, it has been reported.
Eight-year-old Corona De Vries, from the Gold Coast in Australia, wrote to the Hollywood actor after he and his wife Rita Wilson recovered from coronavirus.
According to Australian news outlet 7NEWS Gold Coast, he wrote: “I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus.
“Are you OK?
“I love my name but at school people call me the coronavirus.
“I get very sad and angry when people call me this.”
This week, the boy received a reply from Hanks saying that his letter “made my wife and I feel so wonderful”.
He added: “Thank you for being such a good friend. Friends make their friends feel good when they are down.
“I saw you on TV, even though I was back in the USA already – and all healthy.
“Even though I was no longer sick, getting your letter made me feel even better.”
At the end of the letter, he wrote “You’ve got a friend in me!”, the name of the theme song from Toy Story, in which Hanks voices Woody.
He also gifted the boy a typewriter inscribed with the word Corona, which he had kept with him while he was recovering from the virus.