LONDON, May 9 — Tom Hanks gave an emotional interview in yesterday’s edition of the popular UK radio show Desert Island Discs.

The Oscar-winning actor who started out as a standup comedian showed his vulnerable side when discussing the loneliness of his “vagabond” childhood following his parents divorce when he was five, which he described as “devastating”.

Hanks and his two siblings were brought up by their father, Amos, who was a chef.

They had lived in 10 homes in five different cities by the time he was 10.

He even admitted that they briefly lost contact with their mother, Janet.

In the interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme, the 59-year-old fell silent after presenter Kirsty Young asked him how much the break-up affected him.

“[The divorce] was more about complexity than crossfire,” he said. “I never came across anybody that was abusive or angry to the point that they took it out on us.

“We were confused because no one explained anything to us. No one said, ‘Hey listen, you guys are great. You haven’t done anything wrong — give us a couple of moments and we will figure out what we are going to do.’ Nobody ever said that to us.”

Hanks had picked the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, to recall his nomadic childhood.

He also explained how it had changed his life.

“This was the ‘Wow’ moment of my life going from kid trying to figure out what’s interesting in this life to young man yearning to be an artist.

“I started asking myself... how do I find the vocabulary for what’s rattling around in my head.

Asked by Young what those feelings in his head were, Hanks took a long pause and appeared to wipe tears from his eyes.

After he had managed to collect himself, he added: “What have you done to me?”

When Young apologised, he continued, “No, it’s all right, because I put too much thought into this list. What it was, it was the vocabulary of loneliness.”

He also revealed that the tune had ignited his love of theatre.

“Not long after, I started going to the American Conservatory Theatre by myself to see plays I had no idea even existed,” he said.

Hanks admitted his first marriage at 21 to actress Samantha Lewes had been to “quell loneliness”. The union produced children Colin and Elizabeth.

He also picked Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime as a tribute to his first date with second wife Rita Wilson. They married in 1988.

He said: “I don’t think I’ll ever be lonely anymore — that’s how I felt when I met my wife.”

According to the BBC Radio 4 official website, Desert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley in 1942.

The format is simple: A guest is invited by Young to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island.