‘Happy Days’ star Henry Winkler took Marlee Matlin in after difficult relationship with William Hurt

When Marlee Matlin ended her tumultuous relationship with William Hurt, she leaned on her mentor, Henry Winkler, for support.

The Oscar winner is detailing her rise to Hollywood stardom in a new documentary, “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”

According to the film, Matlin turned to the “Happy Days” star after she ended her relationship with actor William Hurt. In the documentary, Matlin claimed that her “Children of a Lesser God” co-star had a “habit of abuse.” Hurt died in 2022 at age 71.

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The 59-year-old, who is deaf, told Fox News Digital through an interpreter that turning to Winkler during a difficult time in her life was a no-brainer.

“He didn’t make it hard for me to reach out to him,” said Matlin. “He was always available. It was like an open door – an open door to his heart and my heart. And he knew that.”

“He knows that he’s done that to a lot of people,” she shared. “But to have that close relationship, I was just very, very fortunate. And I knew that both he and his wife were gold to me. I don’t think if I had Henry in my life, I would be here. I don’t think I would’ve made it this far. I don’t think so.”

Hurt and Matlin starred in the 1986 film about a deaf woman’s romance with a hearing-speech teacher. Matlin was 19 when she was cast opposite Hurt, 35.

While the relationship was plagued with problems, Matlin did credit Hurt for inspiring her to check into the Betty Ford Center after using up every bit of cocaine and marijuana she had in their New York City apartment.

However, post-rehab, Matlin realized their relationship would not be the same.

“I walked out of that house and never went back,” she said in the film.

Winkler encouraged a sober Matlin to visit him and his wife Stacey Weitzman at their California home. There, they could “talk.” Matlin took up his offer.

The actor, who catapulted to fame as “The Fonz,” described Matlin knocking on his door.

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 “’I just broke up with my boyfriend,’” Winkler recalled Matlin telling him in the film. “’Can I stay with you just for the weekend?’ ‘Sure. Stace, what do you think?’ ‘Of course.’”

“Two years later, she finally moved out!” Winkler chuckled.

Matlin said Winkler and his family took her in “as if I were one of their own.”

Winkler noted that Matlin was not “completely whole at that time.”

“What I told her was, ‘If you know what you want without ambivalence, if you’re clear about what you want, everything else will fall into place,'” he said in the film.

Not only did Matlin begin to heal, but she also found true love. In 1993, she married Kevin Grandalski, a police officer, at Winkler’s home.

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 “You just knew,” said Winkler in the film about the romance. “This is different. This is where a home is made. [And] there was no other thing to do, there was no other place for her to get married, except in our yard, in her home away from home.”

Winkler first saw a 12-year-old Matlin on stage in a Chicago variety show. In the documentary, Winkler recalled how Matlin’s mother took him aside and asked if he could warn her daughter from pursuing an acting career because it would be too difficult for her. Winkler replied, “You got the wrong guy.”

Winkler became a friend and mentor to the then-aspiring actress. Their friendship has lasted for decades.

“I think anyone who has that kind of mentor would understand and appreciate how important he was to me,” Matlin explained for Fox News Digital.

“He provided a place for me to feel safe,” she said. “I could always depend on the fact that he was a person who believed in me, genuinely, believed, and helped build my own self-confidence and trust the fact that he allowed me to be open and see the world more clearly. I’m so fortunate… that I was one of the people that he really cares about, truly cares about, genuinely cares about.”

“He was probably one of the most famous people in the world at times,” Matlin beamed. “He was more famous than the President, in my opinion, and one of the most beloved people in the world. So, who would’ve ever thought that he would take the time and give attention to someone like me, the little girl that I was when he met me, the little deaf girl when he didn’t even know American sign language?”

“He didn’t know anything about being deaf, about deaf culture,” Matlin continued. “But you know what? It didn’t matter to him. He acknowledged, of course, yes, that I communicated. He didn’t ignore the fact that I was deaf, but at the same time, he treated me with love and respect, as anyone should to anyone. And I grabbed that moment when we first met, knowing that he was the real deal.”

Winkler, 79, said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital, “When we first saw her at age 12, it was evident how powerful and talented she was. She will always be part of our lives.”

Matlin is the youngest and first deaf best actress Academy Award winner. Her memoir, “I’ll Scream Later,” was published in 2009. In it, the actress said she was molested as a child and alleged abuse from Hurt during their relationship.

“I didn’t know that you could ask for help,” Matlin told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know that while screaming for help, I didn’t know that I could go out and seek out help, as opposed to while it was happening… hoping that somebody would come. But no one did while I was screaming. No one did… I don’t want to dwell on that, but that’s what happened.”

Following the book’s publication, Hurt issued a statement to Access that read, “My own recollection is that we both apologized, and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did, and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we both have grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”

The documentary’s director, Shoshannah Stern, who is also deaf, told Fox News Digital through an interpreter that she admired Matlin’s bravery in speaking before the #MeToo movement.

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“Everyone had so much doubt,” said Stern. “And then asking Marlee, ‘Why didn’t you leave?’ ‘Why did you stay in that relationship?’ I just felt that they just re-traumatized her… The questions that they asked made it worse, asking, ‘Did you think that those events happened to you because you were deaf?’ And Marlee continuing to say, ‘I didn’t know.’… And people just overlooking that comment over and over, not understanding what she meant and her strength.”

“She didn’t know that abuse was abuse at the time,” said Stern. “And that’s what happens to so many deaf people in the world.”

The work continues for Matlin, along with telling her story.

“I was determined to prove [my critics wrong],” Matlin told Fox News Digital about pursuing a Hollywood career. “It just made me want to roll up my sleeves, even more, to prove to them that I’m a deaf woman who loves acting as much as anybody else… I didn’t get into this business for nothing. It was a dream come true. So why shouldn’t I be able to do another film?”

“But if it happened today, I would’ve made a lot of noise back then,” Matlin reflected. “I didn’t know how to speak out against those who… wanted to put me in a negative light… As a result of all those criticisms, I had to grow up so quickly.

“I was 19 years old when I got into [‘Children of a Lesser God’], I turned 20 during the making of the film, and I had a much older boyfriend. It was my first film, and I was trying to get sober, and everything was coming at once. And they were more interested in pulling me down than all the other things that I was going through.”

“Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” premieres June 20.