‘What Matters With Liz’ Episode 1: Henry Winkler, 80, on Why ‘Pivoting Is Key to Living’ (Exclusive)
Plus, how overcoming dyslexia shaped his career and the life lessons he's teaching his grandkids
Beloved actor, director, producer and bestselling author Henry Winkler became a cultural icon as The Fonz on Happy Days and captivated a new generation with his Emmy-winning role as Gene Cousineau on Barry. But behind the fame is a deeply thoughtful man whose life has been defined by resilience, reinvention and gratitude.
In this powerful premiere episode of What Matters with Liz—a podcast exploring what truly matters in the hearts, happiness and health of women over 40—Winkler shares the lessons he’s learned from more than five decades in Hollywood, navigating setbacks, healing old wounds and continually reinventing himself. This is a conversation filled with warmth, humor and profound wisdom for anyone parenting a child with dyslexia, navigating change or rediscovering purpose.
Watch What Matters With Liz Episode 1 here or listen on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Podcasts.
Tune into Episode 1 right here! ‘What Matters With Henry Winkler: Presence, Gratitude’
A real connection—the real Henry Winkler
Anyone who has seen Winkler knows that he’s someone who’s always present, warm and deeply human. The reason for that? “I am so grateful to be on the earth,” he offers, matter-of-factly.“I am so grateful to be in the moment.”
“When I was in drama school, there was a very famous book, Be Here Now by Baba Ram Das. And I had no idea what the hell he was talking about at that time, and now in this moment in time with what is going on around the world and in this country that is so chaotic, being in the moment is the only way I now believe to live,” Winkler continued. “And you know what excites me? Every day at work is a new adventure. Putting together a television show or a movie or a play or a children’s book is never doing the same thing over and over again on any given day. Let’s take writing a book. Lin Oliver and I have a whole outline of where this particular book is going. And one day, as we’re writing the book on its own, it takes a left, it just starts going off into a whole other direction. And you don’t stop it and go, ‘We had an outline!’ You throw the outline out and you just go, ‘Hey, wait for me,’ because I believe pivoting is one of the keys to living.”
Henry Winkler looks back at his 50+ years in Hollywood
At 80 years old, Winkler is executive producing and hosting Hazardous History for the History Channel. It’s going to be a groundbreaking show filled with a wide variety of fun and interesting facts. Before that, he was on Barry and Happy Days, both of which he was allowed to contribute to creatively.
“What I found over my career is that when you’re asked to do something, you’re not asked to just fill time and space. You bring your imagination, you bring who you are with you and I just insert that,” Winkler said. “When I was doing Barry, I was supposed to be a complete a–hole as Gene, the drama teacher, but I just started playing him the way I felt and saw him, and the writers went, ‘Oh, okay, I guess we could write that, too.’ And all of a sudden he just became more a part of me. There was more me in there, not more than the character, but they let me in.”
“And with Happy Days they called me on my birthday in 1973 and Tom Miller [the producer], who came from Milwaukee—that’s why it’s based in Milwaukee— said, ‘You want to do this part?’ And I said, ‘You know, as long as you let me show the emotion when he’s in his apartment and he’s not wearing that jacket. Who does he have to be cool for? There’s got to be something else going on.’ They said yes and I said yes,” the actor continued. “Ron Howard was one of the best acting partners I’ve ever had in my career. Now here’s a guy who has never done theater before. He’s only done film, and I was trained in theater, but Ron had never done it before and was really nervous, especially in 1975 when we went from doing it like a little movie to in front of an audience. He was panicking. And I’m telling you, things would come to me during the show and I would just do them. I would not stop my imagination. And Ron went wherever I went. It was uncanny and you could not fake it. You couldn’t make it up.”
Henry Winkler opens up about his family
Winkler has two kids and six grandchildren, one of whom he spoke to shortly before this conversation.
“I just called my 4-year-old granddaughter. We were doing art last Sunday. We’re putting letters on a piece of paper, and they were using glue, and we’re sticking them and we’re spelling Frankie and she puts an S down. I said, ‘Well, there’s not an S in your name.’ And she said, ‘Oh yes, there is.’ And of course, she was thinking of her whole name [Frances] and I was only thinking Frankie, and I called her up after her preschool, and I said, ‘Papa was wrong. There’s an S in your name.’ She said, ‘I was right.’ I said, ‘Yes, you were. There is an S in your name. And I wasn’t thinking,’” he related warmly.
Henry Winkler on his dyslexia
Throughout his career, Winkler has been very open and honest about having dyslexia, a learning disability that can make it hard to read, spell and process languages.
“My parents were embarrassed because I wasn’t a good student. I didn’t reflect well on them, but I couldn’t do the work because of my dyslexia,” the actor pointed out. “For a moment, it made me retreat so that I was not a whole person, even though I looked like one on the outside as an adult. It took me a long time, and I found a therapist about 11 years ago [who helped me overcome it] and if I were to give her a present, it would have to be the size of a skyscraper.”
Listen to the full Henry Winkler episode
What Matters With Liz airs every Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Podcasts, with highlights and behind-the-scenes clips shared on Instagram and Facebook.
Also, be sure to subscribe to the What Matters With Liz free newsletter from Woman’s World Editor-in-Chief Liz Vaccariello. Every week, you’ll get real talk about health, money and entertainment, plus uplifting stories, practical tips and exclusive updates on Vaccariello’s new video podcast.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
