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Dick Van Dyke is reflecting on his early days as a father.
The actor, who will turn 100 on December 13, shared that one of the most stressful times in his life was when he tried balancing work with raising his family.
Van Dyke married Margie Willett in 1948, and the pair shared kids Barry, Stacy, Christian and Carrie Beth.
The exes split in 1984 and Willett passed away in 2008.
“In the beginning I was [raising] in a family with no money, so the whole thing was getting some money together and getting a home,” Van Dyke recounted to People. “I bought a home on the GI Bill, finally, but I think the toughest was I did game shows. I played nightclubs. I did about everything. At one point, I was doing a disc jockey show at 5 in the morning, and then at night I was working with a partner in nightclubs.”
“I was getting like three or four hours sleep in between, but that’s the only thing I can remember, is working so hard to get going, to get a foothold,” continued the “Mary Poppins Returns” star. “After that I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Van Dyke admitted that it was difficult to maintain a healthy balance at times.
“They probably got neglected at some point, because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak, but I haven’t had any complaints from anybody,” the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” actor stated.
“I think of how rare it is that a person gets to do for a living, what they love to do,” mused Van Dyke. “Most people have to go sit in an office. I never forgot that I look forward to getting up every morning and going to work, because it’s what I would’ve done for nothing.”
Van Dyke also gave credit to his wife Arlene Silver, 54, whom he married in 2012, for helping him stay young at heart.
“She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment,” he gushed. “She kept me happy every day of my life, every day. She’s a joy. She can get me singing or dancing and she carries so much responsibility … I’m just lucky.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Van Dyke touched on what he would like to be remembered for.
“What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy,” the performer detailed. “I don’t think remembering me is that important. But it’s the music, the music we leave behind. For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.”
The comedian also gave an update on his health, explaining that he’s a bit hard of hearing and wobbly.
But Van Dyke clarified that he “feels really good for 100.”
“Sometimes I have more energy than others — but I never wake up in a bad mood,” he shared. “I feel like I’m about 13.”
“People say ‘What did you do right?’ I don’t know. I’m rather lazy,” Van Dyke continued. “I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides — and hate. And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.”
The Hollywood veteran added: “There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of. But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate. My father was constantly upset by the state of things in his life and it did take him at 73 years old.”
Van Dyke also confessed that he doesn’t “have any fear of death for some reason.”
“I can’t explain that but I don’t,” he revealed. “I’ve had such a wonderfully full and exciting life. That I can’t complain.”
Now, Van Dyke is sharing his optimistic attitude with others in his new book, “100 Rules for Living to 100.”
“Each rule springs from a story in my own life, which I believe has stuck itself in my memory for a good reason — because it had some broader emotional significance for me,” the TV icon said.