Marlee Matlin says she 'wouldn't have been the same' if Henry Winkler didn't take her in after Wi...

Matlin dated Hurt, who was 16 years her senior, in the 1980s, alleging in 2009 that he was physically and sexually abusive during their relationship. Marlee Mat

Matlin dated Hurt, who was 16 years her senior, in the 1980s, alleging in 2009 that he was physically and sexually abusive during their relationship.

Marlee Matlin says she 'wouldn't have been the same' if Henry Winkler didn't take her in after William Hurt split

Matlin dated Hurt, who was 16 years her senior, in the 1980s, alleging in 2009 that he was physically and sexually abusive during their relationship.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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October 10, 2025 11:00 a.m. ET

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Marlee Matlin and Henry Winkler in a photograph from 1989. Credit:

Courtesy of Marlee Matlin

- Marlee Matlin is reflecting on the role Henry Winkler played in turning her life around after her tumultuous breakup from actor William Hurt.

- "It wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for you," Matlin tells Winkler in an exclusive clip from *Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore*.

- Winkler reminds Matlin that she already possessed the power to "[capture] an audience" when they met.

Marlee Matlin is a survivor — but she didn't do it alone.

The Oscar winner* *is opening up about the impact a fellow Hollywood luminary had during one of the darkest periods of her life. In an exclusive clip from the upcoming PBS documentary *Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore*, Matlin tells her old friend Henry Winkler how pivotal he was in helping her get her life back on track after a tumultuous breakup with her *Children of a Lesser God *costar William Hurt.

"You had too much inside of you, and I'm not talking about just drive, but whatever it is that shoots out of a human being and captures an audience," Winkler tells Matlin, trying to deflect her crediting him with enormous help in dark times. "That's already in you, I can't give that to you. Nobody can give that to you."

But Matlin insists, reminding Winkler via an interpreter, "I appreciate that, I appreciate the comment. But I'm talking about getting to where I am today. It wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for you."

"You let me stay at your house for two years!" Matlin exclaims. Winkler's expression quickly shifts from somber to wry as he agrees, "I did, I did. Oh did I ever. Unbelievable, never cleaned her room," Winkler jokes to Matlin's interpreter. "Every boyfriend that came, I had to answer the door: 'Oh, she'll be right there.'"

Matlin winkingly recalls that Winkler "liked the tall ones," which Winkler attributes to the fact that they could "change the lightbulb. That's our joke. I was not a fan of climbing a ladder."

The groundbreaking deaf actress then asks Winkler if he remembers "the big earthquake, when you came running down the stairs?" Winkler finishes her thought, "In my underwear with my brown socks. Who was I holding? I was holding Max," referring to his son, the *Flower *and frequent Ryan Murphy-universe director Max Winkler. "I slid down the last landing. Must have been a beautiful sight."****

Marlee Matlin and Henry Winkler in 'American Masters – Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore'.

Matlin met Hurt when she was 19 and he was 35. They began dating around the time they costarred in 1986's *Children of a Lesser God*, which won Matlin the Best Actress trophy at the Academy Awards. Their turbulent relationship ended after two years, and in 2009, Matlin alleged in her memoir, *I'll Scream Later, *that Hurt (who died in 2022) had been physically and sexually abusive to her.

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"Looking back on how I was able to survive, I have no f---ing idea," she shares elsewhere in *Not Alone Anymore*. "If I have to give [Hurt] an ounce of credit, it would be for saving me in terms of my drug use. He went to rehab, and I was able to see what it did for him, and I knew that checking in there would do me great."

Matlin explains that she learned "a lot of things" in rehab that "pointed to things not being right... The physical abuse and verbal abuse, the mental and emotional abuse was not right. I learned that there. We both knew then that post rehab, our relationship wouldn't be the same. And I decided I'd had it. I walked out of that house and I never went back."**

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter*.**

William Hurt and Marlee Matlin at the Tony Awards in 1987.

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Around that time, Winkler, who Matlin met when she was only 12 backstage at a school play, invited her out to his home in California. "Knock on the door. Marlee. 'I have no place to stay, I just broke up with my boyfriend, can I stay with you just for the weekend?'" One weekend turned into two years, and a lifelong friendship was born.

"That family took me in as if I was one of their own," Matlin says in *Not Alone Anymore*. "I will never forget that."

*Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore *premieres on Tuesday Oct. 14 at 9 p.. ET on PBS.

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