Dick Van Dyke is letting fans in on the secrets to his good health at 98 years old.
The Emmy Award winner, known for his roles on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Mary Poppins,” is still holding his own in the gym. But he didn’t always live this way. “If I’d known I would have lived this long, I would have taken better care of myself,” he told CBS News in 2023.
Now that he’s lived nearly 10 decades, including a legendary career that’s earned him the respect of multiple generations, here’s what the actor has shared about how he manages his health.
He regularly works up a sweat
At 98, Van Dyke has got an impressive gym routine. “My wife, god bless her, makes sure I go to the gym three days a week and do a full workout,” the actor told CBS News, referring to wife Arlene Silver.
He called the gym his “secret weapon,” in an exclusive with Entertainment Tonight.
But looking after his physique isn’t something he took up recently. On top of a career chock-full of dance, in 1974, Van Dyke revealed he also did yoga on The Dick Cavett Show. “I do it in the morning when I get up,” he said at the time. He called it both relaxing and strenuous — particularly the sit-ups. “It’s a great exercise, but it’s tiring. It’s hard.”
He previously struggled with alcohol use
Van Dyke publicly revealed he was dealing with alcoholism and checked into a hospital for three weeks to address his addiction in 1972. After that, he worked to change the stigma about the disease.
“It’s a physical disease,” Van Dyke said on The Dick Cavett Show in 1974. “It has nothing to do with the person not being mature enough not to drink too much. It’s a true addiction, like a heroin addiction.”
While he barely drank in his 20s, as invitations to parties mounted in his 30s, he found himself drinking more and eventually realized he had problem, he added.
In 2016, he told Oprah Winfrey that alcohol was his crutch in social settings. “I was very shy — with strangers — I couldn’t talk to people,” the then-90-year-old said. “And I found if I had a drink, it would loosen me up. The barriers went down, and I became very social. That’s what got me started.”
A friend once warned him about his drinking habits, but Van Dyke shrugged him off, he told Dick Cavett. Van Dyke estimates that he drank heavily for about seven years. So, by the time he realized he needed help, he was in too deep and had to work at his recovery for many years.
Dick Van Dyke is putting the phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” to bed.
Van Dyke said he’s long tried to pinpoint the exact moment his drinking habits shifted but can’t. “When did I go from the point when I drank with my friends at a party or something to the point where I’d began to drink way ahead of them?” he wondered.
Now that he’s sober, he doesn’t miss it. “I like life too much without it. Now that I’m completely free of it, I don’t have any desire to ever drink again.”
He quit smoking
Once Van Dyke sought help for alcoholism, he also addressed his smoking habits. “Trying to quit smoking, that was twice as hard,” Van Dyke said on the Really No Really podcast in 2023.
“It was much worse than the alcohol,” he added, saying it took him “forever” to quit. “I’m still chewing the nicotine gum. It’s been 15 years, I think.”
He suffered from mysterious headaches
In 2013, Van Dyke was forced to cancel public appearances for health reasons.
That April, the entertainer was set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Bettering Humanity through Comedy from New York’s 92Y, but he had to pull out. His reps said he was dealing with “fatigue and lack of sleep resulting from symptoms of a yet-to-be diagnosed neurological disorder,” according to Entertainment Tonight.
That same month, the star took to X to share additional details and ask for advice: “My head bangs every time I lay down. I’ve had every test come back that I’m perfectly healthy. Anybody got any ideas?”
The following month, he shared an update revealing he suspects his dental work was to blame, TODAY.com previously reported. “It seems that my titanium dental implants are the cause of my head pounding,” he wrote on X. “Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks for all your replies.”
He does work he still looks forward to
In addition to looking after his health and making necessary life changes, it seems the final key to Van Dyke’s longevity is contentment. “If I’m not enjoying myself, I’m really bad. I am,” Van Dyke quipped to CBS News.
“It’s such a blessing to find a way of making a living that you love, that you’d do for nothing. I feel so sorry for people who hate their jobs. I look forward to going to work every morning,” he said.
Van Dyke’s legendary career is still bringing him joy, as it did when he first broke out on the scene. He says that’s because he’s never wasted a moment doing something he didn’t love. “Get your living done first and have the nerve to try something,” he advised.
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