Jay Leno and Wife Mavis Give Update on Dementia Battle at Movie Premiere

Jay Leno‘s wife, Mavis Leno, offered a health update while the couple enjoyed a rare public date night.

The couple posed for photos on Tuesday, April 30, at the premiere of Netflix’s Unfrosted in Hollywood, California.

“I feel great, yeah,” Mavis, 77, told Entertainment Tonight while Jay, 74, 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.”

Jay noted that he was excited to be joined by his wife at the event, telling the outlet, “Well, we hang out every day. We have a great time. 44 years! So we’re doing good.”

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The pair were also asked how they celebrated Jay’s recent birthday. “My life is a party anyway, so every day is a good day,” the former late night host shared. Mavis added that neither of them are that into birthday celebrations, adding, “We just have each other.”

Jay and Mavis’ appearance comes one month after he was officially granted conservatorship over her. Jay originally filed for a conservatorship of Mavis in January following her dementia diagnosis. According to paperwork obtained by Us Weekly, his goal was to set up a living trust for his wife in the event of his death.

“According to her neurologist, Dr. Hart Cohen, she has advanced dementia, sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth,” an April filing stated. “She has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago.”

Mavis’ court-appointed counsel, Ronald Ostrin, stated at the time that she is struggling with “cognitive impairment.” Ostrin also noted that Mavis, who has been married to Jay since 1980, “consents” to the conservatorship and views Jay as “her protector.”

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Ostrin referred to Jay’s legal approach as “the least restrictive alternative and most protective of Ms. Leno” while continuing to “preserve her dignity.” A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge officially ruled in favor of the conservatorship that same month.

Jay and Mavis started dating in 1976 when she saw him perform at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store.

“They sat us front row center — that means you’re this far from the comic. And there was Jay,” Mavis told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “I needed to go to the ladies’ room. What I didn’t know was in the Comedy Store back then, that area was the only place for the comedians to hang out. So, when I came out of the bathroom, he said, ‘Are you that girl in front?’ And I said, ‘Yes, that was me.’”

Over the years, Jay has discussed the secret to his long lasting marriage.

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“You have to marry a normal person,” the former Tonight Show host said during a September 2023 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “Guys say [to me] all the time, ‘I met this girl, she’s crazy but the sex is unbelievable.’ I go to them, ‘You’re right, but when the sex is over, she’s still crazy. Now, you have 23 hours of crazy until [the] good-crazy hour comes back.’”

He continued: “I always [say], ‘Marry your conscience. Marry the person you wish you could be, who is kind and maybe whatever fault you have, doesn’t have those faults.’ That’s worked out for me, so to me, I married the perfect person. It worked out good.”