Legendary late night talk show host Jay Leno has had a rough go of late.
In the last few years alone, Leno has endured a nasty facial injury (and some sordid rumors associated with it), as well as a horrific burn injury related to an incident with his beloved car collection.
But while physical injuries can and do heal over time, the same can’t be said when a loved one is afflicted with a debilitating disease.
And Leno’s dealing with that, too.
Leno has been upfront about the difficult fact that his longtime wife, Mavis, is suffering from advanced dementia.
With that honesty, however, has come an unusual bit of pressure from at least one of his Hollywood cohorts.
According to Fox News, Leno has opened up about the pressure he’s facing to begin dating again in the wake of his wife’s condition.
Leno spoke about the matter on the “Life Above the Noise with Maria Shriver” podcast, and recounted at least one instance of a conversation about his love life taking a bizarre turn.
“Yeah, my favorite thing was — and this is the most Hollywood thing — a guy said to me, ‘Uh, so are you going to get a girlfriend now?’” Leno said. “Well, no, I have a girlfriend. I’m married. I’ve been married 45 years. ‘Yeah, but you know what I mean.’ No… we’re kind of in this together, you know. You can’t, ‘Honey, honey, I’ll be with my girlfriend, I’ll be back later.’ That was like the most Hollywood thing.”
Leno added, “It just made me laugh.”
He further explained, “You take a vow when you get married, and people are stunned… they’re so shocked that you would live up to it. Why?”
Leno further lamented that what used to be viewed as traditional and accepted has been flipped on its head.
“We just make a big deal out of it,” Leno explained. “You’re just doing the right thing because you’re supposed to. Right? That’s kind of — that used to be the norm, and then when you strayed, that was the out-of-whack part. Now the out-of-whack part is fairly common, and staying and doing what you’re supposed to do is stunning to people. Well, we kind of made a deal, you know.”
In January 2024, Leno filed for conservatorship over his wife’s estate.
“Unfortunately, Mavis has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years,” the petition for the conservatorship said.
“As Mavis’s current condition renders her incapable of executing the estate plan, Jay has petitioned the Court to be appointed conservator of Mavis’s estate for the sole purpose of filing a petition for substituted judgment on her behalf in order to ensure her desires concerning the disposition of her assets upon her death are realized.”
Jay and Mavis have been married since 1980.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
