Jay Leno is opening up about how he still makes his wife of 45 years, Mavis Leno, laugh and some of the challenges they’ve faced as she battles advanced dementia.
The comic and former longtime host of “The Tonight Show” spoke with Hoda Kotb in a TODAY broadcast exclusive on Nov. 20 about his life as a caretaker for his 79-year-old wife. Jay Leno, 75, was granted conservatorship over her estate in April 2024 following her diagnosis.
“I understand what it is, so you can’t blame someone,” he told Hoda from his famous California garage filled with his 214 collector cars.
“She’s not forgetting me. That hasn’t happened yet. She seems extremely comfortable now. And she seems happy, and she seems contented. It’s actually OK. It’s good. I enjoy taking care of her.”
Jay Leno, 75, spoke to Hoda Kotb about life with his wife, Mavis, 79, as she lives with advanced dementia.FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images
Jay Leno also spoke about the state of his wife’s condition.
“The conversation, it’ll be … she’ll point to something and say something that doesn’t quite make sense,” he said. “And I’ll go, ‘No, it’s good, honey. It’s all right.’ I sense she wants to be reassured that everything’s OK.”
He also reminisced about what attracted him to Mavis Leno early in their relationship.
“I enjoy her company, like if I’m working on a car, she’d sit over there with a book and read,” he said. “It was just very — well, it still is, very comfortable. Before she had this, I would always go home after ‘The Tonight Show,’ cook dinner for her, and we’d watch TV. The only difference is now you just can’t really talk about a lot of things.”
One of the biggest changes has been much more time at home for a woman who always enjoyed traveling and trying new restaurants.
“I wish I could take her out and go out to eat and do things like that, but you can’t really,” Jay Leno said. “We’ll get some help, and we’ll take her out in the car and we’ll drive around and look at stuff, and she likes that.”
“But, I feel bad,” he continued. “You reach this point in your life where she loves to travel. I’m sad that she can’t do those things. But there’s so much stuff on YouTube, the travel stuff, and we watch those things and the animal shows and all that kind of stuff.”
Jay Leno with his wife, Mavis, on the set of “The Tonight Show” in 1992. NBC / NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Mavis Leno is prominent in her own right as an activist and philanthropist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for her work supporting women in Afghanistan under the Taliban. She had always been fiercely independent before her dementia diagnosis.
“That’s part of it because now she really needs me, and I like that,” Jay Leno said. “And I can tell that she appreciates it. The idea that you get married and you take these vows, nobody ever thinks they’ll be called upon to act on them, you know? You know that part, for better or worse. But even the worse is not that bad.”
Jay Leno, who began his comedy career in 1973, also shared the goofy jokes he tells to make his wife laugh and how they make the best of awkward situations.
“When I’m carrying her to the bathroom, we do this, and I call it Jay and Mavis at the prom in high school, you know,” he said. “So, we’re just like, back and forth, and she thinks that’s funny.”
While he acknowledged that having to carry his wife to use the bathroom is “not the most romantic thing,” he can still see glimpses of Mavis’ love for him.
“I can see the smile,” he said. “I can tell when she’s happy. And when she looks at me and smiles and says she loves me, I melt.”
