Jay Leno has revealed the horrifying loss his dementia-stricken wife Mavis has had to relive on a daily basis for three years.
Mavis, 79, was diagnosed with dementia last year, and Jay, 75, was granted conservatorship over her estate shortly thereafter.
Now the comedy icon is laying bare the pain of health ordeal in a new interview with Hoda Kotb on TODAY – and how she has been forced to learn about the death of her mother on a regular basis.
‘Probably the toughest part was every day she’d wake up and realize someone had called today to tell her her mother had passed away,’ he told Hoda. ‘And her mother died every day for, like, three years.’
‘Not just crying, I mean, you’re learning for the first time. And that was really tricky,’ he said. ‘That makes it hard.’
Jay has been serving as Mavis’ caregiver – a role he enjoys.
Jay Leno has revealed his dementia-stricken wife Mavis has been forced to learn about her mother’s death every day for three years
‘Not just crying, I mean, you’re learning for the first time. And that was really tricky,’ Leno told TODAY of his wife’s health ordeal
‘She’s not forgetting me,’ Leno said. ‘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.’
The tasks include carrying his wife to the bathroom, a moment he manages to add levity into.
‘When I’m carrying her to the bathroom, we do this, and I call it Jay and Mavis at the prom in high school,’ he said. ‘We’re just like, back and forth, and she thinks that’s funny.’
Jay said her appetite has ‘really come back’ but he was sad he couldn’t take he rout to dinner.
‘I wish I could take her out and go out to eat and do things like that, but you can’t really,’ he 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.’
‘I feel bad,’ he added. ‘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.’
And years after their wedding, Leno is still feeling butterflies around his wife.
‘I can see the smile,’ he told Today. ‘I can tell when she’s happy. And when she looks at me and smiles and says she loves me, I melt.’
Jay became his wife’s conservatorship of her estate last year after she was diagnosed with advanced dementia.
Back in January of last year, it was revealed that Mavis had been diagnosed with ‘advanced dementia,’ although it is not known when she was diagnosed
Leno met his now-wife in the 1970s at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles; Seen in a throwback snap
Later that same month, Mavis herself gave an update on her condition as she accompanied her husband to the premiere of Unfrosted in Los Angeles.
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she positively stated, ‘I feel great, yeah!’
Jay then added, ‘Thought I’d come to something fun for a change. Everything is so controversial. Just to come to a funny, silly movie — it’s great. I think people will have a great time.
He also shared that he and his wife ‘hang out every day.’
‘We have a great time. 44 years! So we’re doing good,’ the late-night host gushed.
