Rita Wilson Has Landed Her First Gigs After Coronavirus Recovery

Rita Wilson first gigs post coronavirus

Now that Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks have returned to the United States after their ordeal with coronavirus, Wilson is definitely trying to keep herself busy. This week she signed on for two gigs: First singing the National Anthem for a Nascar event and secondly hosting a new CMT benefit for the MusiCares Covid-19 Relief Fund.

The gig with Nascar already went down and can be seen in full. In it, Rita Wilson sings the National Anthem for Nascar’s Iracing Pro Invitational Series, which is one of the ways sports have been filling time as we wait for this quarantine to pass. She donned a leather jacket and seems to be singing at home for the event.

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In addition to this she’s already gotten busy with CMT’s CMT Giants Kenny Rogers: A Benefit For MusiCares. The upcoming benefit event will be hitting the schedule very soon on Wednesday, April 8 at 8 p.m. ET on CMT. The event will essentially be to celebrate the life of Kenny Rogers, who died at the age of 81 at the tail end of March. His family announced the news.

It also will serve to bring other people including Don Schlitz, Kim Carnes, Dolly Parton, Jason Isbell, Lionel Richie, Lady Antebellum, Gavin DeGraw, Rascal Flatts and Kenny Rogers' band and even crew. Like host Rita Wilson, all of the collaborators will be making special appearances virtually due to Covid-19. It's a hard thing. Typically when someone beloved dies people get together to celebrate and mourn that person's life. In this case, this is the closest thing to meeting that people who knew Rogers will be able to do and I really hope it does give fans and those who knew him comfort as well as being for a worthy cause.

The special event will also air on MTV Live on April 10 following the CMT premiere and more info on how to donate to the special MusiCares fund can be found here.

Just a few days ago, Rita Wilson’s husband Tom Hanks announced the couple had made it home after spending time in isolation in Australia following their own struggles with coronavirus. (Hanks had been in Australia filming a Baz Luhrmann Elvis biopic that is now on hold). After time in quarantine, they were able to take flights back to the U.S. Meanwhile, it looks as if Wilson is the personality type who really wants to be filling her time and doing activities that are worthwhile in relation to Covid-19.

Rita Wilson was active even when in quarantine and she has even shared activities like pursuing a “Hip Hip Hooray” remix since she’s been back in the States. I would not be shocked to hear she’s up to more cool and unusual stuff in the coming weeks, but for now these are the gigs that are getting her back to work.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.