.jpg)
2 hours ago
1
Jay Leno Makes Rare Comment on Being Granted Conservatorship of Wife Mavis Leno Amid Her Dementia
Jay Leno is by his wife Mavis Leno’s side.
More than a year after being granted conservatorship over his spouse’s estate amid her battle with advanced dementia, the comedian shared insight into their journey.
“It's not work, because people come up, and say they feel so sorry,” Jay, 75, told People in an interview published Nov. 9. “I understand the sympathy, because I know a lot of people are going through it, but it's OK.”
Indeed, despite Mavis’ diagnosis, the former Tonight Show host has kept an optimistic outlook on their circumstances.
As he noted, “My wife is fighting dementia and all that, but it's not cancer.”
“I enjoy her company, and we have a good time,” he explained. “We have fun with it, and it is what it is.”
Jay was also grateful to be able to provide for Mavis, 79, both emotionally and financially—even though he may not know what the future has in store.
“There are going to be a couple of years that are tricky,” he admitted. “But it's okay. It's not terrible. I'm not a woe-is-me person. I'm just lucky that I am able to take care of her.”
Greg Grudt/UPI/Shutterstock
The TV icon—who married Mavis in 1980—filed to establish a conservatorship over his wife’s assets in January 2024, according to legal records obtained by E! News at the time. In a subsequent filing nearly three months later, Mavis’ court-appointed counsel explained that his client clearly displayed “cognitive impairment,” though she still had “a charming personality and could communicate.”
The conservatorship was subsequently established during an April 2024 court hearing, where the presiding judge noted that Mavis was “in very good care.”
“Everything you're doing is right,” the judge told Jay. “I totally understand this is a difficult period.”
Jay and Mavis are one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples, keep reading to see more long-term celebrity duos.
dollyparton.com
Dolly Parton & Carl Thomas Dean
She's a superstar performer known around the world. He was a private man who stayed away from the spotlight. But before his passing in March 2025, they built a marriage that lasted more than 56 years. "I like it when people say, 'How did it last so long?'" Dolly told ET Canada in December 2022. "I say, 'It's stay going.' There's a lot to be said about that. So we're not in each other's face all the time. He's not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be. He was the one I was supposed to have and vice versa."
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Samuel L. Jackson & LaTanya Richardson Jackson
There's no breaking the bond of these college sweethearts. "In the beginning, we always said the most revolutionary thing that Black people could do was stay together, raise their children with the nucleus of having a father and a mother, since everybody likes to pretend that that's not the dynamic of the African American family," LaTanya told People in March 2022. "That it's just children out here being raised by women, which we know is false. In order to change that narrative, we made a decision to say, ‘We are going to stay together no matter what. We'll figure it out.'"
David Livingston/Getty Images
Bonnie Bartlett & William Daniels
When you find joy in life's daily activities, Bonnie says your marriage could last forever. "We're very happy," she told People when celebrating 72 years of marriage in January. "We sit in this house and we do things. He reads his New York Times and he does Cameos mostly. And we do conventions and things like that. We just like to be with each other. And we would do anything for each other."
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Ron & Cheryl Howard
These high school sweethearts celebrated their 50th anniversary in November 2020. "There's no technique," Ron told People just one year earlier. "There's no tactic other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways."
Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images
Christopher & Georgianne Walken
After meeting during a production of West Side Story in the '60s, this couple continues to savor every moment together with gratitude. "Every once in a while, I'll be looking out the window, and I'll think, 'I feel pretty good,'" Christopher told New York Times Magazine in February 2022. "My bills are paid, my wife is healthy, the weather's nice. That's really all I care about: when, apropos of nothing, I happen to look out the window and think, 'This is good.'"
Clint Spaulding/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Alan & Arlene Alda
After 65 years of marriage, the couple has found their groove away from the spotlight in Long Island, New York. In an interview with The New Yorker, Alan said he and his wife enjoy playing chess during the day and ladder ball before dusk. Then, it's a nice dinner and a quality TV show. It's not noisy in the country," he said in June 2022. "I don't have to show up places. Places come to me."
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for TCM
Martin & Janet Sheen
Through sickness and in health! After Martin recovered from a heart attack and nervous breakdown in the late '70s, he recalled a few words his wife told him. "It was very serious, and she handled it like a pro," he told Closer Weekly in 2016. "She had me laughing in the most dire circumstances. She said, 'Don't take yourself so seriously.' Every day is a celebration with this dame."
David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Lily Tomlin & Jane Wagner
After meeting in 1971, Lily and Jane have been inseparable. When asked to share advice for other couples, Lily kept it simple. "We all have a secret," Lily told reporters in 2019. "It's just the secret is that you're committed and care and you want it to work out. You don't want to walk away from something that's important."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
English (US)