Jay Leno is opening up about his wife’s ongoing battle with advanced dementia.
The former “Tonight Show” host revealed that his wife of 45 years, Mavis Leno, has “still got the fire” despite her shocking diagnosis during an interview with People published Tuesday, Sept. 9.
“My wife’s got some problems, so it’s just her and I,” Leno, 75, told the outlet at a press conference for Harley-Davidson’s charity motorcycle ride. “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.”
“I mean, I do enjoy it. People think, ‘Oh, it must be horrible.’ No, because she’s not in any pain. She’s not suffering,” he continued. “It’s not like a tumor or cancer. It’s just a confusion that comes with Alzheimer’s and dementia. And that’s okay.”
“I enjoy being her rock. It makes you feel wanted,” Leno added. “You got a purpose now. So it’s good.”
It was first revealed that Mavis, 79, was diagnosed with advanced dementia in January 2024 when Leno filed for conservatorship for his wife.
At the time that the conservatorship was granted in April 2024, the judge overseeing the case said that Mavis was “in very good care” with her former late-night host husband.
“Everything you’re doing is right,” the judge told Leno. “I totally understand this is a difficult period.”
Leno, meanwhile, shared a “funny story” about Mavis and himself during his chat with People this week.
The pair, who don’t have any children, were watching a rerun of “Hawaii Five-0” from the 1960s when Mavis took issue with one line of dialogue in particular.
“We watched the episode where Stanley Holloway plays a genetic scientist who gets kidnapped,” he 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.’”
Although the comment didn’t go over well with his wife, the former “Jay Leno’s Garage” host got a kick out of how she reacted.
“My wife was real involved with women’s issues,” Leno explained. “My wife’s like [makes growling noises]. She’s just yelling at the TV. She still got the fire. It just made me laugh.”
As for how he takes care of Mavis despite his busy work schedule, Leno revealed that he makes a point to always return home at the end of every day.
“I come home every day. I went to Puerto Rico for the day, and the plane waited, and I came right back,” he shared. “That’s what I do. I try to be home every night. So that’s kind of what I do.”
Leno previously opened up about his wife’s dementia diagnosis earlier this year.
Despite her ongoing struggle, the comedian revealed that he is still able to make Mavis laugh “every day.”
“We go back on YouTube – they have all the ‘Headlines’ that we did over the years,” he told The Post in January. “And my wife enjoys those, and it’s like she forgets that she just saw it, so she laughs again at the same jokes.”
“So for a comedian, that’s great,” Leno concluded.
