Jay Leno Says Faith, Family Make Life ‘Easier’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Jay Leno says relying on faith and family makes the hard times “easier” to handle.
“All of that,” Leno said when asked if his faith and family have been something he leans on during life’s difficulties. “Exactly. It’s the whole thing. We’ve been married 44 years. It gets easier. It doesn’t get harder.”
Leno and his wife Mavis have recently been navigating her advanced dementia diagnosis, which was revealed earlier this year. Leno was granted an estate conservatorship to handle her estate and financial dealings.
“Mavis has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years,” one filing, obtained by Entertainment Tonight, read. “Jay is fully capable of continuing support for Mavis’ physical and financial needs, as he has throughout their marriage, [but her] current condition renders her incapable of executing the estate plan.”
Movieguide® previously reported:
Talk show host Jay Leno is doing what he can to protect his wife Mavis amid her battle with advanced dementia.
The 73-year-old filed for conservatorship over his 77-year-old wife whose health continues to decline. PEOPLE reported, “His motive behind the petition was to set up a living trust for Mavis to ensure that she has ‘managed assets’ to provide her with future care if he died.”
An update on her health in a document filed by Ronald Ostin, the court-appointed counsel on the case, shared that she “has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago.” The documents also shared that “it was clear she had cognitive impairment, she still has a charming personality and could communicate.”
The file also indicates that Mavis “does not contest” the conservatorship and does not want anyone but Leno to fill this role.
PEOPLE shared that “The report also speaks to the nature of the couple’s relationship, which Ostrin described as ‘long-term, loving and supportive, as Mavis sees Jay as ‘her protector and she trusts him.’”
Despite Mavis’ diagnosis, the couple continues to appear publicly together, most recently at the UNFROSTED premiere and the Feminist Majority Foundation’s 16th Annual Global Women’s Rights Awards Gala, where an award was presented in Mavis’ name.
“We do everything together,” Leno said of the couple’s relationship. “I go home every night, make dinner and sit around. We enjoy each other’s company.”
He continued, “We have a lot of fun. People say marriage is difficult. I don’t get it. I enjoy her company. I enjoy taking care of her. We have fun. She’s the most independent woman I ever knew. Again, I just couldn’t be prouder of her. I am part of her legacy and that’s what I’m proudest of.”
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