Jay Leno shared that his wife, Mavis, who is battling advanced dementia, has “still got the fire” that defined her long before her diagnosis.
The 75-year-old former late-night host has been married to the 79-year-old women’s rights activist and philanthropist since 1980, and the couple never had children. During a new interview with People magazine, Leno opened up about embracing his role as her sole caregiver.
“My wife’s got some problems, so it’s just her and I. But it’s always been her and I for the last 45 years anyway, so it’s fine. I enjoy taking care of her. It’s fun,” he said.
“I mean, I do enjoy it,” Leno continued. “People think, ‘Oh, it must be horrible.’ No, because she’s not in any pain. She’s not suffering.”
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“It’s not like a tumor or cancer,” he added. “It’s just a confusion that comes with Alzheimer’s and dementia. And that’s OK.”
In January 2024, Leno filed for conservatorship over Mavis’ estate. At the time, Leno stated that Mavis “lacks the necessary capacity to execute the estate plan” due to her “major neurocognitive disorders (including dementia),” according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
He described his “loving marriage for more than 43 years” with his wife, but noted that he “has always handled the couple’s finances,” and he wanted to ensure that “Mavis has managed assets sufficient to provide for her care should Jay predecease Mavis.”
A Los Angeles judge granted Leno’s petition in April 2024 while praising the comedian’s devotion and commitment to his wife’s well-being.
“I think she’s in the least restrictive environment. I think she’s in very good care with Mr. Leno,” the judge said during the hearing, according to People magazine.
“Everything you’re doing is right,” the judge told Leno. “I totally understand this is a difficult period.”
During his recent interview with People, Leno said he finds taking care of Mavis to be rewarding.
“I enjoy being her rock,” he said. “It makes you feel wanted. You got a purpose now. So it’s good.”
While speaking with the outlet, Leno recounted the “funny story” of how Mavis took issue with a line of dialogue while they were recently watching an old episode of “Hawaii Five-O” from the 1960s.
“We watched the episode where Stanley Holloway plays a genetic scientist who gets kidnapped,” Leno recalled. “So McGarrett goes to see his daughter, who’s like 40. And he says, ‘What kind of genetic engineering does your husband do?!’ And she says, ‘Well, I’m just a woman. I don’t understand such things.’”
“My wife was real involved with women’s issues,” he said, recalling that Mavis started making growling noises when she heard the line.
“She’s just yelling at the TV. She still got the fire,” Leno said. “It just made me laugh.”
“Just screaming at McGarrett… But it just made me laugh,” he added.
Though Leno has continued touring as a stand-up comedian following Mavis’ dementia diagnosis, he told People that he makes it a priority to be home every night.
“I come home every day. I went to Puerto Rico for the day and [the] plane waited and I came right back,” he said. “That’s what I do. I try to be home every night. So that’s kind of what I do.”
While appearing on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” in April, Leno reflected on what he’s learned about himself after assuming the role of Mavis’ caretaker.
The Emmy Award winner shared that he’s “never been particularly challenged.”
JAY LENO TRIES TO FIND THE HUMOR DURING WIFE’S DEMENTIA BATTLE
“I was not in the Army. I didn’t have to shoot anybody,” Leno said. “I didn’t have to risk my life when I got married. You sort of take a vow… and, ‘Will I live up to this? Or will I be like a sleazy guy if something happens to my wife, I’m out banging the cashier at the mini-mart?’ No, I didn’t.”
He added, “I enjoy the time with my wife. I go home, I cook dinner for her, watch TV, and it’s OK. It’s OK. It’s basically what we did before, except now I have to feed her and do all those things. But, I like it.”
“I like taking care of her. I think somewhere in my life, uh, she’s a very independent woman, so I like that. I’m needed, you know, and I need to be there.”
When asked what he has found to be the most challenging part of caregiving, Leno said, “That’s the challenge, isn’t it? When you have to feed someone and change them and carry them to the bathroom and do all that kind of stuff every day.”
“It’s a challenge. And it’s not that I enjoy doing it, but I… I guess I enjoy doing it. It’s OK,” he continued.
“I’m not just, ‘This person is attractive and sexy’ and having sex with them and everything,” he added. “At some point in my life, I’m gonna be called upon to defend myself… I think that’s really what defines a marriage. I mean, that’s really what love is. That’s what you do.
“I mean, I’m glad I didn’t cut and run. I’m glad I didn’t run off with some woman half my age or any of that silly nonsense. I would rather be with her than doing something else.”
Leno and Mavis first met at the stand-up comedy club The Comedy Store in Los Angeles in the 1970s. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2014, Mavis shared how she was instantly attracted to her future spouse.
“It was in January — I don’t remember the day. But at the time I thought, ‘Holy s—! That comedian is gorgeous!'” she remembered of seeing Leno. “I had gone to the Comedy Store with my girlfriend because I was writing comedy with some partners. Friends kept saying, ‘You have to hang out at the Comedy Store and the Improv. You’ll meet people who can give you jobs.’ The first time I went, they sat us front row center — that means you’re this far from the comic. And there was Jay.”
In a 1987 interview with People, Mavis explained that she never thought that she would get married prior to meeting Leno.
“It was a big thing with me, part of my vehement feminism,” she said. “But with Jay, I began to realize that this was the first time I was ever with someone where I had a perfect, calm sense of having arrived at my destination.”
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During his April interview with Bensinger, Leno recalled that he was drawn to Mavis’ spirit and independence and admired her for qualities that he wished he could emulate.
“I always tell people, ‘Marry the person you wish you could be,’” he said.
“And that’s why, if I married another self-centered person who was funny, one of us would die,” Leno joked. “My wife does a lot of charity work and things like that, and it worked out great. I married the person that had the ideals I wish I had.”
“She was a voracious reader and a feminist and all those things — fighting for women’s rights, and I always liked that,” Leno said. “I was drawn to women that want to do good. When I was single, it was teachers, nurses, and people [who] were in it for not necessarily self-gain.”
Leno also reflected on why he and Mavis never had children.
“If she wanted children, we would have had [them],” he told Bensinger. “It wasn’t a big deal to me. If she didn’t want kids, fine, you know. I mean, the nice thing is we could travel as a couple.”
“Because as a comedian, if we had a kid, she’d be home and I’d be on the road.” Leno added. “I mean that would be what it is.”
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In May 2024, Leno and Mavis attended the Feminist Majority Foundation’s 16th Annual Global Women’s Rights Awards Gala to present the Mavis Leno Award for Global Women’s Rights. Mavis worked with the FMF for decades and chaired the nonprofit’s Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan from 1997 to 2019.
In an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the event, Leno said their life together is better than ever.
“All of that,” Leno said when asked if his faith and family have helped pull the couple together recently. “Exactly. It’s the whole thing. We’ve been married 44 years. It gets easier. It doesn’t get harder.”
While presenting the award, Leno shared an emotional tribute to Mavis after they took the stage together. The “Jay Leno’s Garage” host choked back tears as he recalled the first time he saw his wife, describing marrying Mavis as “the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“I had to smile when I saw that young college girl come out, which reminded me of a young girl I met,” Leno said, referring to a young woman who had given a speech before him.
“She had the same fire,” he recalled of Mavis. “A couple weeks later, I told a story of picking up the front page of a paper with a picture of her [Mavis]. [I thought] this is going to be a fascinating relationship, and it has been.”
“We have a lot of fun,” Leno added as he hugged and kissed Mavis’ head. “People say marriage is difficult. I don’t get it. 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.”
Leno continued, “I am part of her legacy and that’s what I’m proudest of.”
