Inside Dick Van Dykes health challenges as beloved actor turns 100

Dick Van Dyke just turned 100 — and he’s still stealing the show.The legendary song-and-dance man officially became a centenarian on Dec.13, a rare feat for a star whose career has delighted fans on the big and small screens for more than seven decades.“The funniest thing is, it’s not enough.

A hundred years is not enough,” Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News that aired ahead of his milestone birthday.“You wanna live more, which I plan to.” It’s easy to see why.

Despite far outliving the 58-year life expectancy for an American born in 1925, the legendary entertainer says he doesn’t have any aches or pain.“I’m so lucky,” Van Dyke said, noting that he still hits the gym three days a week.“I think that saved me from the pain.”Still, the road to 100 wasn’t always smooth.

The “Mary Poppins” star faced his share of health challenges before reaching the century mark.Here’s a look back at the obstacles Van Dyke overcame to hit triple digits.While not widely known, Van Dyke has been open about his past struggle with alcoholism, which he described as a “physical disease” during a 1974 appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show.”“It has nothing to do with the person not being mature enough not to drink too much,” he said at the time.

“It’s a true addiction, like a heroin addiction.” Van Dyke told Oprah Winfrey in 2016 that he turned to alcohol as a way to bring himself out of his shell.“I was very shy – with strangers – I couldn’t talk to people,” he explained.“And I found if I had a drink, it would loosen me up.

The barriers went down, and I became very social.” The “Bye Bye Birdie” actor has been sober since checking into a hospital for three weeks in 1972 — and says he doesn’t miss alcohol in the slightest.“I like life too much without it,” he told Today in 2024.“Now that I’m completely free of it, I don’t have any desire to ever drink again.” Alcoholism wasn’t the only vice V...