Henry Winkler’s 3 Children: All About Jed, Zoe and Max

Henry Winkler is perhaps best known as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli from Happy daysbut he is also the father of Max and Zoe Winkler, the stepfather of Jed Weitzman and the grandfather of six children.

Henry began building a family in 1978 when he married PR professional Stacey Weitzman. In 2019, he revealed to PEOPLE the secret of their long, happy marriage. “We enjoy fly fishing together. We enjoy our grandchildren together. We enjoy going to the cinema together. We really enjoy each other every day.”

When Henry and Stacey met, she already had a son, Jed, who was 4 years old, from a previous marriage. Just a few years after the wedding, Henry had his first child with Stacey, daughter Zoe in 1980. Three years later, in 1983, they had a son, Max. The Winkler family is close-knit and very close. When Henry won his 2018 Emmy for Barry he joked that he wrote his acceptance speech, “43 years ago,” before greeting his wife and then joking with his children, “Kids, Jed, Zoe and Max, you can go to bed now, Daddy won!”

So which of Henry’s children inspired him to write his memoirs? And who runs a successful non-profit organization that organizes star galas? Here’s everything you need to know about Henry Winkler’s children.

Jed Weitzman, 52

Jed Weitzman at the Sportsmens Lodge on January 29, 2016 as Henry Winkler receives the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Tibrina Hobson/Getty

Stacey already had a son Jed, who was 4 years old, when she met Henry. On Show in the Tamron hall, Henry recalled meeting Jed on Stacey’s first date. The date was at the height of Henry’s Happy days fame and Jed was already a big Fonzie fan.

“I was the icing on his cake before I met him,” Henry told Hall on her show.

He added: “When I picked Stacey up for her and my first date, the door opened and there was a little four-year-old, and he said, ‘Hi, Fonz!’ ”

When Jed started high school, he and Henry discovered they had dyslexia. “He had to write a report in third grade and he couldn’t do it,” Henry told PEOPLE in 2023. “I told him everything I was told: ‘Go back to your room. You are lazy. Realize your potential. You are so verbal.’ I then had it tested and we read everything they said. I said, ‘Oh my God, Stacey, it’s me. I have something with a name.’ ”

That moment of realization didn’t happen until Henry turned 31. In his memoirs Being Henry: The Fonz…and beyond he wrote: “I didn’t find out I was severely dyslexic until I was thirty-one. All the years before that, I was a kid who couldn’t read, spell, couldn’t even do algebra, geometry, or even basic arithmetic.” His other two children, Zoe and Max, would later also be diagnosed with dyslexia.

Today, Jed is a businessman working in the entertainment industry. He is currently the head of music at the ticketing platform Logitix.

Zoe Winkler, 43

Zoe Winkler and Henry Winkler attend the 4th Annual TIAH Fundraiser on August 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Henry and Stacey had a daughter, Zoe, in 1980.

After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, Zoe worked as a kindergarten teacher for several years, which led her to meet her husband, Rob Reinis. Reinis is an actor who has had recurring roles in shows like Just shoot me (2000-2002) i Crazy TV (2005-2007). According to a The New York Times profile on the couple, they met in 2005 after the mother of one of Zoe’s preschool students set them up on a date. Apart from a short break, the two continued to develop their relationship and finally got married in 2009.

“She was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Reinis said times. During the exchange of vows, Zoe told her new husband: “It was hard for me to leave home, and with you I feel at home.” Zoe and Rob have since had three sons.

In 2018, Zoe transitioned into a humanitarian role after co-founding the non-profit organization This is About Humanity. The organization helps families and children separated at the US-Mexico border by raising awareness and offering resources and assistance.

Zoe said The Hollywood Reporter that she was inspired to start the organization after seeing the conditions in which migrants live in detention facilities at the border. “I couldn’t get the images of those children out of my head,” she told the publication. “I have a 1-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old and if they were separated from me, I don’t know if they would make it. I mean, it’s so harmful and we live in such a terrible time right now that I feel like I never in my life thought I would become an activist, but I have no choice.”

In 2022, Henry reveals that he once hosted a large gathering for Zoe’s organization…but he didn’t know until he received an invitation. “We got an invitation that said, ‘Come because your daughter and her friends are having an event,'” Winkler said at the event, according to Today. “And then we look where we went, it was our house!”

The event ended up being packed with celebrity attendees, including Kim Kardashian, Idina Menzel, Zoey Deschanel, Francia Raisa and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Per TodayGellar was a particularly close ally of This Is About Humanity and went on numerous trips to the border with the organization, including one where she helped rebuild a facility for abandoned LGBTQ+ youth.

Max Winkler, 40

Max Winkler and Henry Winkler at the premiere of ‘Flower’ on March 13, 2018 in Los Angeles, Calfornia.

Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock

Henry and Stacey had a son, Max, in 1983.

Max follows his father and has a successful career in Hollywood, but instead of acting, he spends most of his time behind the camera as a director, producer and screenwriter. He directed several episodes of hit series such as New girl, American Horror Storyand its anthology spin-off series, American horror stories.

In an interview from 2023 Conversation, Henry said his son always wanted to work in Hollywood. “My son Max told us at the age of 10 that he wanted to be a director,” he said Happy days star told the hosts, “he kept his word.”

In the same interview, Henry also said that his son’s work as a director helped land him one of his most prominent roles. “My son is very strict,” Henry said. “My son referred me to an audition for Barry. I had the script, I said ‘Max, do you want to look at it?’ I’m sitting at my desk, he’s standing over me, I’m reading, and he says ‘Dad… respect the writer!’ ”

Winkler went on to explain that he sometimes improvises because of his dyslexia, but his son told him, “Not this time. There is an exclamation point at the end of that sentence… use it.” But Max’s coaching worked because it wasn’t just Henry who got the role Barrybut the actor ended up receiving four Emmy nominations, winning once in 2018.

In 2019, Max directed a film about boxing Jungleland which starred Charlie Hunnam. British actress Jessica Barden was also in the cast. According to NMEMax and Jessica fell in love during filming and eventually married in 2021. Later that same year, they had their first child, a daughter.

Speaking with NME 2023 Jessica talks about how much her life has changed since she married Max and moved to LA – and now has Henry as a father-in-law and meets Max’s friends like Jonah Hill.

“Jonah is exactly what you want him to be,” she said, “he’s hilarious.” She also said that Henry likes to come over and hang out. “They’ll call us on the weekend on a Sunday morning and say, ‘Is there going to be a football game this weekend?’ ”

Max also helped encourage his father to write his memoirs. In December 2023, Henry appeared on Show in the Tamron hall as part of his press tour for his book. What he didn’t know was that Max had recorded a special video message for his dad, which Hall played.

“Dad, congratulations on your book release,” Max says at the beginning of the video. “I love you so much and I’m so excited for the rest of the world to read this beautiful thing you wrote. I think it’s going to inspire a lot of people, and I think you should think about whoever gave you the idea to write this book, think about giving them 10% of the sales, just because it seems like the right thing to do.”

Henry immediately started laughing and Hall asked, “He gets 10%?” Henry then shouted on stage, “Ten percent? On my life!”

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Source: HIS Education