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With the Fonz, from left: Fleurette Des Cieux, 9, Mayron Seyoum, 8, Bradley Nkellefack, 8, and Duane Akoto, 9 |
Fonz tells how his own school days really weren’t so cool
‘I literally thought I was stupid’ – Happy Days star reveals his struggle to cope with dyslexia
HE was once a bastion of 50s cool, with his leather jacket, motorbike, swooning girls and “Heeeey” catchphrase.
But the Fonz, aka Henry Winkler, revealed last week he was crippled by self doubt, and feelings of stupidity – a direct result of undiagnosed dyslexia.
Mr Winkler visited St Joseph’s Primary School in Archway on Friday to promote a series of books based on his own childhood living with dyslexia.
The pupils were captivated as the Happy Days actor read out excerpts from books – complete with funny voices – with titles including I got a ‘D’ in Salami.
The books centre on the life of young Hank (short for Henry) Zipzer, which Mr Winkler explained was the name of a woman who used to live in his building.
Speaking about his time on Happy Days, he told the children: “I played a 17-year-old and I was 28. I was the oldest teenager ever on TV.”
He said he had nothing in common with The Fonz: “Except that I was loyal to my friends but he was my alter ego,” he said.
“He was everything I wanted to be but wasn’t. He was relaxed, cool, in charge. I was none of that until about last Tuesday... For the longest time I had no self-image because I literally thought I was stupid. Not so long ago it finally clicked that I couldn’t be doing all of this and be stupid.”
He revealed he has never ridden a motorcycle or hit a jukebox “because there was always Fred in the back plugging it in when I hit it”.
St Joseph’s School is celebrating having recently gained an outstanding Ofsted report.
Mr Winkler told the children: “One of the books is called Help! Somebody get me out of fourth grade! I always thought I was going to be left there. I used to think I would like to take my dyslexia out of my mind and throw it in the garbage. But then maybe I would never have been able to accomplish everything I have if I didn’t have to fight.”
He said he was relieved when he was finally diagnosed but “it made me very angry because all of those arguments I had with my family – and when I was grounded for most of my life – were unnecessary.”
He said all of his children have dyslexia “but we didn’t scold them for not doing well in school so they all did pretty well. They all found their own way; no matter how you learn or at what rate, it’s nothing to do with how brilliant you are.
“Reading is hard but God giveth and God taketh away so as difficult as it was for me to read I could memorise really quickly. It always takes longer but if you want something then you just work at it.” |
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