Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno has been helping his wife, Mavis, throughout her battle with dementia, which he says he’s happy to do.
Jay Leno Opens Up About Wifeâs Dementia Battle
Leno, 75, does not consider being his wife’s caregiver to be a burden, telling People at the 34th Annual Love Ride on Sunday, November 9, “I enjoy taking care of her.”
“I’ve been very lucky in my life. My wife is fighting dementia and all that, but it’s not cancer. It’s not a tumor,” he told the outlet. “It’s not work, because people come up, and say they feel so sorry. I understand the sympathy, because I know a lot of people are going through it, but it’s okay.”
The comedian was granted conservatorship over his wife following her April 2024 diagnosis with advanced dementia.
“People say marriage is difficult. I don’t get it,” he told Fox News in May 2024. “I enjoy her company. I enjoy taking care of her. We have fun. She’s the most independent woman I ever knew. Again, I just couldn’t be prouder of her.”
He echoed that same sentiment to People over the weekend, telling the outlet, “I like taking care of her. I enjoy her company, and we have a good time. We have fun with it, and it is what it is.”
“I’m not a woe-is-me person,” he continued, adding that the “first 46” years of their marriage were “really great.”
“There are going to be a couple of years that are tricky,” Leno told People. “But it’s okay. It’s not terrible.”
Jay Leno Previously Gushed About Marrying ‘a Normal Person’
The couple in January 1976 during his appearance at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, Mavis revealed to The Los Angeles Times in 2014. They tied the knot four years later.
“We have a great time. You have to marry a normal person,” Leno told Kelly Clarkson during a September 2023 appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” “I always [say], âMarry your conscience. Marry the person you wish you could be, who is kind and maybe whatever fault you have, doesnât have those faults.â Thatâs worked out for me, so to me, I married the perfect person. It worked out good.”
It seems Leno did make the right choice, as he gushed to Fox News, calling their marriage the “smartest thing [he’d] ever done.”
“I’m very lucky,” he told People over the weekend. “I enjoy her company. As soon as this ride’s over, Iâm going home and Iâll make her lunch.”
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