Henry Winkler is sharing wisdom he’s gained from five decades of parenting.

The “Happy Days” star appeared on the “Today” show this week, where he was shown a surprise Father’s Day video message from his children that he admitted left him feeling “so emotional.”

In the video, his daughter Zoe, 45, said, “The way you were raised and in the household you came from, where you weren’t allowed to be yourself and you weren’t allowed to question or speak your mind. You did the exact opposite, and you raised us in the most loving home where we could be ourselves.”

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“Fifty years of incredible memories, which is unbelievable,” Jed, Winkler’s wife’s son from a previous marriage, noted, while son Max, 41, said, “I wish you the happiest, happiest Father’s Day, and I love you so much.”

When the video finished playing, Winkler was seen tearing up as he profusely thanked the team who put the clips of his children together.

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Henry Winkler and wife Stacey Weitzman share two children: Zoe, pictured here, and Max. (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for This Is About Humanity)

“Today” host Jenna Bush Hager, who was so touched that she began crying herself, asked him, “What did you do to raise such beautiful children?”

“I’m going to tell you now, I think that the center of all relationships … is the ear,” he answered. “It is not how you meant it, it is how it landed. It’s how it’s heard.”

He continued, “And I was never able to say anything. I never had a point of view growing up … and my children could say what was on their mind.”

Winkler has spoken in the past about the difficulties he faced growing up. His parents, two Jewish immigrants who had fled Nazi Germany for New York City, were very hard on him.

Henry Winkler played Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, also known as The Fonz or Fonzie on “Happy Days” for eleven seasons. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

As he explained last year on the “How To Fail” podcast with host Elizabeth Day, he doesn’t think “strict” was the proper term to describe them – he said that he was a strict parent himself, but his own parents “did not see me … my parents did not acknowledge who I was as a human being.”

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He acknowledged that they “went through a trauma,” but said “They literally saw me as an extension to making them grander. I had to do well. If I didn’t do well, I embarrassed them. That is a tragedy, it is one of the no-nos of being a parent – you have to see the child in front of you, you have to hear the child in front of you … if you see your child is having a problem, it is your job to make sure you don’t let that child’s self-image plummet to the bottom of the ocean.”

WATCH: HENRY WINKLER SAYS DAUGHTER ‘USED ME LIKE A GARDEN TOOL’ GROWING UP

Although he didn’t have a name for it until he was an adult, Winkler struggled with dyslexia throughout his childhood, and he continues to struggle with it. In 2020, he told Howard Stern that his parents called him the German word for “dumb dog.”

When he became a father, he admitted, “I didn’t know if I could be a parent, I just knew that I was duty-bound, and I was going to get this right. Of course, you know you never get it right … you try.”

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Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, is sharing a special message for her husband on Father’s Day.

Emma, who shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the actor, has been open about the process of becoming Bruce’s caregiver following the announcement of his dementia diagnosis in 2023. She’s become an advocate for caregivers and for raising awareness surrounding brain health, and she continued that message in a post on Instagram today for the holiday.

Along with what appears to be a new photo of Bruce with one of his daughters, Emma wrote, “Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them.”

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She continued,
”What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words. Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present.
This photo says so much. Love deepens. It adapts. It stays, even when everything else changes.”

In an effort to “be fair” to herself, Emma added that “these symbolic days stir up a lot.”

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“I’m profoundly sad today,” she admitted. “I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family.”

She wrote that in the community she’s found with people affected by Bruce’s diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, one common saying is “It is what it is.”

Emma Heming Willis admitted she’s “profoundly sad” on Father’s Day. (James Devaney/GC Images)

She explained, “And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it’s not. It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to.”

Emma concluded her post by urging her followers, “Today, let’s celebrate the badass dads, those who are here, and those we carry with us. Onward.”

In her Instagram story, she shared a series of old photos of Bruce with their two daughters. One picture showed him sitting with Mabel and Evelyn at a museum, with the actor wearing a pair of Ugg boots.

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Emma Heming Willis shared this photo of Bruce and their daughters on Father’s Day. (Emma Heming Willis/Instagram)

“I miss and mourn what was,” Emma wrote, joking, “Even those Ugg days.”

“I want it all back.”

Bruce, who also shares daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore, was first diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder. His family shared the diagnosis in 2022, along with the announcement that he’d be retiring from acting. 

Bruce Willis has maintained his closeness with ex-wife Demi Moore and their three children. (Getty Images)

The next year, the family revealed that his condition had “progressed” and that he’d been given the more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.

This fall, Emma will release a book about the process and what she’s learned from it, called “The Unexpected Journey.” While speaking at the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Forum in Las Vegas last month, she spoke about the moment that inspired the book.

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“On the day Bruce got his diagnosis, we left the doctor’s office with a pamphlet and a hollow goodbye. No plan, no guidance, no hope, just shock,” she told the crowd during the forum, per People. 

“The future we imagined simply vanished, and I was left trying to hold my family together, raise our two young daughters, and care for the man I love while navigating a disease I barely understood.”

Emma said she felt “lost, isolated and scared” after hearing Bruce’s dementia diagnosis. (Dia Dipasupil/WireImage)

“I felt lost, isolated and scared,” Emma, who was being honored for her advocacy for caregiving, said. “What I needed in that moment at that appointment wasn’t just medical information. I needed someone to look me in the eye and say, ‘This feels impossible right now, but you will find your footing. You will survive this, and you will grow because of it.'”

“The book is the roadmap I wish someone had handed me on the day in 2022,” she said. “I wrote it for other caregivers who are desperate for answers, aching for support, and wanting to be seen and wondering how they’re going to make it through.”

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