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Henry Winkler Jokes About Turning 80 and “Inviting” His Knees to Get Up
People may think that after turning 80, Henry Winkler would definitely slow down, but that is not the case.
On the Dec. 24 episode of IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, Happy Days alum talked about his landmark Oct. 30 birthday. Michelle Obama, 61, told him that he should be celebrating all year long. “Eighty is one of those that you deserve a whole year of celebration,” she said.
His reply was a witty one: “I deserve new knees.”
Michelle Obama remarked that he is indeed “moving around quite well” for his age, however, Winkler said it’s more like a gradual thing: “I get out of bed and I go make myself a cup of coffee. Then I have to go back to my bed and invite my knees to come with me. They are still at the bath.”
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Henry Winkler: Retirement Is “the Last Thing” on My Mind
Besides his knees hurting, Henry Winkler answered a question about how he felt by saying that, generally, he was thankful and no way close to retiring.
“You know, people keep asking me, ‘Are you going to retire?’ Or ‘Have you retired?’ And I think that is like the furthest thing from my mind,” he told IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson. “I will retire when I am not able to do again, more.”
He also mentioned that leaving work would be a mistake for him: “You know, I just, I think that it is totally killing,” he explained to be the case with retirement.
By the way, Winkler did say he has to work — and that he is “a lot” — referring to the number of his projects running at the same time, among them Hazardous History with Henry Winkler. The show, which made its debut on The History Channel in 2025, has already been given the green light for the next season.
Henry Winkler Credits Work, Writing and Therapy for Thriving at 80
Besides acting, Henry Winkler is also very productive in writing. In fact, he brought out his 40th book this fall, Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond, which is a joint effort with his longtime partner Lin Oliver.
Near the end of the podcast, Henry Winkler revealed how therapy has been a great help to him in his healing journey. When he started therapy around a decade ago, he described himself as “being in a total mess,” and used the analogy of him looking like Swiss cheese, as he felt being full of holes.
He went on to say that therapy has been effective in helping him “patch the holes inside,” and hence he is now able to feel grateful and stable even at his age of 80.
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Henry Winkler Says Therapy Was the Reason He Could Play Barry’s Gene Cousineau
Henry Winkler’s resurgence towards the end of his career reached a high point in 2018 when he became a part of the Barry series as Gene Cousineau, acting coach — a character that got him his first Emmy at the age of 72.
Winkler, looking back at the role, stated that he might not have been able to play Gene if he hadn’t been through therapy for years. “I don’t really think I could’ve done Gene Cousineau if I wasn’t through that stuff,” he revealed, quoting the ego ”instinct” as the major take-away from therapy.
“However educated your mind is or not, your mind only knows a little,” he went on. “Your belly knows it all.”
And aside from a few problems with his knees, Winkler seems to be very far from taking it easy. He posted a video on Instagram on Dec. 28 demonstrating how he was zip-lining, smiling widely as he stepped off the platform at the end of the course. His short and clear caption was: “Still zipping at 80.”
Henry Winkler on friendship, getting old and still being “zippy at 80”
In an August interview Henry Winkler talked about the close friendship he had with his Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. He told PEOPLE that the two of them had been very close over the years and there had never really been a rift. “Whenever I see him, it’s really like time hasn’t passed. We just continue as if we met yesterday,” he told the magazine.
Ron Howard, 71, said basically the same thing and explained that the feeling between them on the set was so right: “As partners, we just clicked. We became very good friends and he was — and is — like a big brother to me,” he said.
He said the old crew are still very close “Donnie Most, Anson Williams, Henry Winkler and I have got this group text thing that has been going on for years, so we are just in a constant dialogue, updating each other on what’s going on.”
