How ‘Happy Days’ Ruined Henry Winkler’s First Date With his Now-Wife
77-year-old Henry Winkler recalls his first date with his wife Stacey Weitzman and how things almost went in a very different direction. The pair actually met at a clothing store in Beverly Hills and decided to go out on a date. It was 1976, the height of Winkler’s fame playing Fonzie in Happy Days. It doesn’t sound like Weitzman realized just how famous her new beau was at first.
He explained, “She wanted to go to the movies. And I told her that might be difficult. She wanted to know why. I said, ‘I don’t know how to describe it to you.’ When we got to the theater, I told her we should sit in the back. She didn’t understand, so we sat in the middle of the theater. And the entire theater came over and said hello. And Stacey said, ‘Oh!’”
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All’s well that ends well because they ended up getting married in 1978 and have been together ever since. They raised three children together, Zoe, 42, Max, 40, and Jed, who Weitzman shares with ex-Howard Weitzman. Now, they even have some grandkids. While things are great, they haven’t always been easy, especially with Winkler’s line of work.
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When Winkler was playing Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development in 2003, his wife found out that she had breast cancer. He admitted now that he was not there for her as much as he should have been as her husband. He revealed, “I went to her chemotherapy infusions, but my support consisted of falling asleep in the chair. I was not there. I’m not proud of that.” He later went to therapy and their bond strengthened. Luckily, the pair has managed to navigate the ups and downs of marriage and are still happy together.
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Weitzman added, “We’re not the same people we are when we got married. But certain of the tenets you hold dear are still intact. There are glitches in the road, and you get a little off-kilter. But if you have the ability and the stick-to-itiveness based on love, then your friendship and your relationship only gets better.”
1970s Fall TV
September 2023
Take a trip back to the ’70s by looking at the TV Guide Magazine Fall Preview primetime lineups.
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