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Jay Leno is always by his wife Mavis’ side.
The former late-night talk show host, 75, opened up about his marriage to Mavis and the comments he received during her medical exam while appearing as a guest on a recent episode of the podcast Life Above the Noise with Maria Shriver. Mavis was diagnosed with advanced dementia in early 2024.
“I’ve said it many times, when you get married, you make vows and people are stunned…I’m so shocked that you’re going to keep those vows,” Jay told Shriver, 70, in the episode, which premiered on Sunday, Jan. 11.
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Jay and Mavis, 79, married in 1980 after meeting while performing at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
In April 2024, Jay was granted guardianship of her.
During a discussion with Shriver, the comedian talked about how some people react to Shriver keeping his vows.
“What I loved most about it, and this is the most Hollywood thing about it, is that one guy said to me, ‘So, are you going to get a girlfriend now?'” he recalled.
“‘No, I have a girlfriend. I’m married. We’ve been married for 45 years,'” Jay told the unidentified person. ”
The person became insistent and is said to have told the Jay Leno’s Garage star: ”
However, the comedian remained steadfast in his belief in respecting marriage.
“No, we’re all in this together here,” he said. After joking to Mavis that he is going out with his “girlfriend”, he reflects on changing times and how society views relationships, observing that people seem to frown upon “just doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.”
“That used to be the norm. But if you went off track, that was the off-kilter part. Now the off-kilter bits are pretty common, and it’s amazing for people to just stay in there and do what they’re supposed to do,” Jay said.
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Still, after more than 40 years of marriage, he expressed relief that her dementia diagnosis was the most difficult hurdle to overcome.
“It’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve been pretty lucky up to this point. It’s been easy sailing. Now here’s where it gets a little tricky,'” he said.
Jay also told Schreiber that making Mavis laugh is “still one of my best jobs.”
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He recalled how he and his spouse went to bed around 2 a.m. and she told him she loved him.
“I said, ‘I think I’m having a nightmare, please go back to bed.’ She thought that was the funniest thing. She couldn’t stop laughing,” Jay said. “And for me, that’s what’s fun: ‘Oh, she got a laugh.'”
