Jay Leno has always been the guy who could make a room crack up with one raised eyebrow and a well-timed punchline. But in recent years, the former Tonight Show host has been dealing with something no joke can soften: his wife Mavis’ battle with advanced dementia. The diagnosis was revealed publicly in 2024, along with the news that Leno had been granted conservatorship so he could manage her care, protect her estate, and be responsible for all major decisions on her behalf.
The couple has been together for decades — long before fame, fortune, or late-night television ever entered the picture. They met in the 1970s at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Leno had just finished a set; Mavis was in the audience that night. She would later admit that Jay wasn’t exactly polished in the dating department and that marriage was never something she envisioned for herself. But everything changed when she met him.
“I always thought I’d never get married,” she told People magazine in a 1987 interview. “Then Jay came along, and it felt like the first time I was truly where I was meant to be.”
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