‘Be the wind under their wings’: Winkler on how to parent dyslexic children

It has taken Hollywood star Henry Winkler more than 50 years to come to terms with a learning disability that tarnished his relationship with his parents. Now he has spoken about that challenge to an enraptured audience.

It is hard to believe that at the height of his fame, Henry ‘The Fonz’ Winkler was riddled with self-doubt and insecurities.

As the Happy Days leading man he was the biggest name in Hollywood with his cool and effortless alter-ego broadcast into homes across the world.

But behind closed doors he was struggling.

The young actor could barely read and would request Happy Days scripts ahead of time so he could memorise his lines to save embarrassing himself.

It wasn’t until he was 31 that the cause of his struggles was revealed when he received a dyslexia diagnosis.

“My whole life I was told I was lazy, stupid and not living up to my potential,” Winkler said.

“In my mind I kept thinking, ‘I don’t think I’m stupid’ but if all the adults say that when you’re younger, well then you guess they’re right.

“I covered my shame for not being able to do anything really well with humour.”

Happy Days star Henry Winkler with Toowoomba Hospital Foundation chief executive Alison Kennedy and Tilly’s Legends at their Game MC Lee Faulkner at the Empire Theatre, Saturday, February 10, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Winkler became adept at improvisation by the time he graduated from the Yale School of Drama.

He famously bluffed his way through the audition for the role of Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli, by refusing to read his lines and instead oozing the charm and overconfidence that became the character’s iconic style.

Winkler’s battle with his learning difficulty and the strain it put on his relationship with his parents is the subject of his new memoir, Being Henry: The Fonz.... and Beyond.

Happy Days star Henry Winkler talking with Heidi and Les Robinson before speaking to a sold-out crowd at the Empire Theatre for Toowoomba Hospital Foundation's Tilly’s Legends at their Game. Picture: Kevin Farmer

While in Australia to promote the book, Winkler took the time to appear at the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation’s Tilly’s Legends at their Game dinner to raise money for the nearby Darling Downs Health Cancer Centre.

The foundation hopes to raise $10m over the next five years, to be matched by Queensland Health.

Winkler had some simple advice for the parents of children with learning disabilities.

“If you see early on that your child is struggling, first of all, you have got to tell them about 19 times a day, for 20 years, that they are wonderful, just the way they are,” he said.

Happy Days star Henry Winkler talking with fans before speaking to a sold-out crowd at the Empire Theatre. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Each child is looking at everybody else in their class and thinking, ‘everybody else can read, everybody else can do math, why can’t I, I am not good enough’.”

“Their self-image plummets to their ankles.

“As a parent you have to support them, you’ve got to be the wind under their wings so that they meet their destiny.”

As ‘The Fonz’ in Happy Days, Henry Winkler was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but behind closed doors he was struggling with dyslexia.

After the giddying success of Happy Days, Winkler was at a loss and it was a friend who suggested that he channelled his charm into writing young adult fiction about a young boy growing up with dyslexia.

That’s how the Hank Zipzer series was born, and today there are dozens of volumes under Winkler’s name, and his co-writer’s, Lin Oliver.

“Somebody said, ‘write children’s books about your dyslexia’ and I said, ‘Well, I can’t do that because I’m dyslexic’,” Winkler said

“But you know, you figure out there’s more than one way to do anything.

“We’ve written 40 children’s novels, to see my name on a book is mind-blowing to this day.”