Marlee Matlin reveals how she relied on mentor Henry Winkler after tumultuous relationship with William Hurt

Matlin opens up about her respective relationships with each man in her new documentary

Oscar winner Marlee Matlin has detailed the end of her romantic relationship with William Hurt and how Henry Winkler helped her in the aftermath.

Matlin, 59, opened up about the situation in her new documentary, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore. The film, which kicked off the 41st Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah earlier this year, will premiere June 20.

She said Happy Days star Winkler helped her regain her footing after ending her relationship with her Children of a Lesser God co-star Hurt, who died in 2022 at age 71. The two were cast opposite each other in the 1986 film when Matlin was just 19 and Hurt was 35. She won an Oscar for her portrayal of a deaf woman who develops a relationship with a hearing speech teacher.

Matlin, who is deaf, spoke to Fox News Digital through an interpreter, saying of Winkler: “He didn’t make it hard for me to reach out to him. 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 continued. “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.”

Marlee Matlin’s documentary premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival (Invision)

Matlin and Hurt began dating after meeting on the set of their film. She claimed in the documentary that Hurt had a “habit of abuse,” but also said he was the inspiration for her checking into the Betty Ford Center after her marijuana and cocaine use peaked. But after rehab, Matlin knew her relationship with Hurt — who she has since accused of rape — wouldn’t be the same.

"I walked out of that house and never went back," Matlin said in the film.

That’s when Winkler, 79, entered to save the day. Matlin was still recovering from all she had endured but said Winkler and his family took her in “as if I were one of their own.”

Henry Winkler is Marlee Matlin’s mentor and has helped her throughout her career (Getty Images for Critics Choice)

Matlin went on to marry police officer Kevin Grandalski in 1993. The couple have since welcomed four children. Since becoming the youngest and first deaf best actress Oscar winner, Matlin has gone on to star on TV in Picket Fences, The West Wing, The L Word, Quantico, and Switched at Birth, and in the hit 2022 film CODA. She’s also made dozens of cameos in additional TV shows and films.

Still, she credits Winkler with much of her current successes.

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

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“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.”