Henry Winkler's 'Happy Days' Fame Stunned His Wife When 'the Entire Theater Came Over' on First Movie Date (Exclusive)

Henry Winkler’s first date with his now-wife Stacey Weitzman didn’t exactly go according to plan.

In PEOPLE’s exclusive look at the AARP Magazine cover story for the October/November issue, the 77-year-old Emmy Award-winning actor recalled his first romantic outing with Weitzman, whom he met in 1976 walking into a Jerry Magnin's clothing story in Beverly Hills that Weitzman also happened to be at.

When Winkler asked out Weitzman, 75, Happy Days was already three seasons in, and his role as the cool heartthrob Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli had catapulted him to a stratospheric level of international stardom. So, figuring out what to do on their date together proved somewhat of a challenge.

“She wanted to go to the movies,” Winkler explained. “And I told her that might be difficult. She wanted to know why. I said, ‘I don’t know how to describe it to you.'"

“When we got to the theater, I told her we should sit in the back,” he continued. “She didn’t understand, so we sat in the middle of the theater. And the entire theater came over and said hello. And Stacey said, ‘Oh!’”

Winkler and Weitzman ultimately wed in 1978 in a synagogue in New York, and in the years since, have raised three children together: Zoe, 42, Max, 40, and Jed, who Weitzman shares with ex Howard Weitzman.

The couple are now grandparents, too. In 2019, they shared how much their grandchildren mean to them, with Weitzman telling PEOPLE the two have a lot of fun with them.

"As a grandparent, you always have a fall guy," she said then. 'You want a hot fudge sundae? Let's call Mom!' But they work us so hard!" 

As with all marriages, Winkler and Weitzman's relationship had its ups and downs. Around the time Winkler began playing Barry Zuckerkorn on the TV series Arrested Development in 2003, Weitzman discovered she had breast cancer. But when his wife needed him most, Winkler admitted he was largely emotionally unavailable.

“I went to her chemotherapy infusions, but my support consisted of falling asleep in the chair,” he also told AARP Magazine. “I was not there. I’m not proud of that.”

Winkler has spent years in therapy since then to address the traumas of his childhood, and fortunately, the couple maintained a close bond in the years that followed.

While speaking to PEOPLE in August 2019, Weitzman revealed the key to her long-lasting marriagewith Winkler was growing together. "We're not the same people we are when we got married,” she acknowledged. “But certain of the tenets you hold dear are still intact.”

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Weitzman also added that long-term love takes effort. "There are glitches in the road, and you get a little off-kilter," she continued. "But if you have the ability and the stick-to-itiveness based on love, then your friendship and your relationship only gets better."