We sometimes picture celebrities as being born with a silver spoon in their mouth. After all, they are often worth millions of dollars and it seems as if the world is open for anything.
If you take a look into the history of many of the celebrities that you know and appreciate, you are likely to get a surprise or two. We often think that we know celebrities personally, but sometimes, they are hiding a secret.
That includes the celebrity we are speaking about today. Although he is loved by millions of people and has had a television and movie career that spans decades, he didn’t have the childhood you would expect.
In fact, his parents even said that he was dumb because he had difficulty reading until he was older. In fact, he would be 31 years old before he learned that he had a disorder and once he learned it, it changed his life.
The person that we are talking about is Henry Winkler. Most people remember him as being Fonzie on the television show, Happy Days. He was the picture of cool after playing that role, and he was certainly far away from the difficult youth he once had.
Henry Winkler was born to immigrant parents who had escaped Nazi Germany. In his younger years, he would have many difficulties and for most people, it would’ve kept them from achieving great things in life.
He once said that when children at school would say that their parents and they were going on a trip or they had so much fun with their parents, he didn’t believe it was possible. After all, he faced a problem that was hiding under the surface and it would be years before he found out the truth about it.
His parents had high expectations for him, but they didn’t realize he had a reading disorder. Rather than focusing on the possibility that he may have been lacking in some way, they simply chalked it up to laziness.
In fact, they referred to him as a ‘Dummo Hund’, which is translated as a dumb dog. He considered it to be somewhat of a term of endearment, but it was not a very nice thing for them to say.
Even the teachers felt that he was lazy and inadequate. They weren’t looking to see what the problem was, they just felt that he was never going to do well in life. This had quite an effect on his self-image.
Even though he had difficulties with this upbringing, he didn’t stop following his goals and dreams. He applied to 28 different colleges, feeling that he had a lot of potential and he was able to secure access to two of the colleges.
Perhaps the height of it all came when he got an acceptance letter from Yale School of Drama. In his audition, which was an improvised Shakespearean monologue, he showed the level of talent he had and this would go a long way in helping him with his future.
After Yale, he was on the stage and did a few commercials while he built up his career. By the time he turned 27, he was one of the biggest stars on television, but most people didn’t realize that he had dyslexia. Even he didn’t know it.
Dyslexia affected his ability to read but it also affected his coordination as well. Riding a motorcycle, which was something he needed to do as Fonzie, would be difficult.
Most people who looked at him on the screen felt that he was charismatic and capable of doing anything. In reality, however, he was struggling and he even turned down the leading role of Grease, because in his words, ‘I’m an idiot.’ Actually, he didn’t want to be typecast.
When he was 31 years old, he had taken his stepson in for a routine checkup and things started to click. As they were testing his son, Jed for dyslexia, he realized that he was struggling with the same thing.
Dyslexia was a condition that stopped him from getting more out of life. He was able to do much, despite the condition, but he was struggling silently. This is especially true during auditions when he struggled to read.
One way that he was able to overcome this challenge was to memorize the scripts. He would mask any inadequacies he had by joking and he would just tell anyone watching that he was giving them the ‘essence of the character.’
After Happy Days, he went through a number of acting roles and even got involved in creating the MacGyver television series. It was a transitional phase, but after those years ended, his talents began to shine through again.
Henry Winkler is an individual who has been loved by millions of people during his lifetime. He went through some personal struggles but through it all, he was able to show that with determination and talent, you can accomplish great things.