{"id":303286,"date":"2025-11-20T13:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303286\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T13:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:56:09","slug":"jay-leno-shares-toughest-part-of-wife-mavis-advanced-dementia-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303286\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Leno Shares ‘Toughest Part’ of Wife Mavis’ Advanced Dementia: EXCLUSIVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Leno is opening up about the challenges that come with looking after wife, Mavis, who has advanced dementia.<\/a><\/p>\n

In April 2024, the former \u201cTonight Show\u201d host was granted conservatorship over her estate <\/a>after her diagnosis was revealed<\/a> in January of that year.<\/p>\n

The Lenos have been married for 45 years, but the last few have been hard as he takes care of her<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He recalled an especially difficult morning ritual Mavis developed. \u201cI mean, probably the toughest part was, every day she\u2019d wake up and realize someone had called today to tell her her mother had passed away,\u201d Jay Leno said in an interview with Hoda Kotb that aired Nov. 20 on TODAY.<\/p>\n

\"2012Mavis Leno (left) and husband Jay Leno (right) attend the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Sunset Tower on Feb. 26, 2012 in West Hollywood, California.Jon Kopaloff \/ FilmMagic<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd her mother died every day for, like, three years. And it was not just crying, I mean, you\u2019re learning for the first time. Each time was \u2014 and that was really tricky. Yeah, that makes it hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

One positive is Mavis’ eating habits. The comedian says Mavis\u2019 appetite has \u201creally come back,\u201d but they don\u2019t go to any restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we could \u2014 I could take her out and go out to eat and do things like that, but you can\u2019t really,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll get some help and we\u2019ll take her out in the car and we\u2019ll drive around and look at stuff and she likes that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheJay Leno (left) and Mavis Leno (right) on “The Tonight Show” on Dec. 31, 1992.NBC \/ NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Leno also says his wife has been restricted in other areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I feel bad. You reach this point in your life where she loves to travel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m sad that she can\u2019t do those things. But, you know, there\u2019s so much stuff on YouTube, the travel stuff, and we watch those things and, you know, the animal shows and all that kinda stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mavis\u2019 memory has been hampered, Leno says she still recognizes him, although he is aware she may forget him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand what it is, so I don\u2019t \u2014 you can\u2019t blame someone. She\u2019s not forgetting me, you know. That hasn\u2019t happened yet. She seems very \u2014 I mean, she seems extremely comfortable now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she seems happy, and she seems contented. It\u2019s actually OK. It\u2019s good. You know, I enjoy taking care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HBOJay Leno (left) and wife Mavis Leno (right) attend an HBO premiere of an exclusive presentation of ‘Billy Crystal 700 Sundays’ on April 17, 2014 at Ray Kurtzman Theater in Los Angeles, California.Barry King \/ FilmMagic<\/p>\n

While Jay Leno beamed into living rooms as host of the \u201cTonight Show\u201d for decades, Mavis Leno established her career as well, earning a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for supporting women in Afghanistan under the Taliban\u2019s regime. <\/p>\n

Jay Leno told Hoda that Mavis has become reliant on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of it because now she really needs me, and I like that. And I can tell that she appreciates it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the idea that you get married and you take these vows, nobody ever thinks they\u2019ll be called upon to act on them, you know?\u201d he continued. \u201cYou know that part for better or worse. But even the ‘worse’ is not that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leno has also made a point of keeping things upbeat while caring for his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, when I\u2019m carrying her \u2014 you know, carry her, like, to the bathroom, we do this and I call it Jay and Mavis at the prom, you know, in high school, you know,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we\u2019re just, like, back and forth. And she thinks that’s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how his wife shows her love for him, he points to her own words.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, by saying it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I can see the smile. I can tell when she\u2019s happy. And when she looks at me and smiles and says she loves me, I mean, I melt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jay Leno is opening up about the challenges that come with looking after wife, Mavis, who has advanced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-303286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}