Jay Leno Says ‘You Try to Find the Humor in the Situation’ as He Cares for Wife Mavis Following Dementia Diagnosis

https://people.com/jay-leno-humor-wife-mavis-dementia-diagnosis-exclusive-8782736

17 comments

  1. >”You try to find the humor in this situation,” he says. “I took my wife shopping, I can see she’s a little down, [so I said], ‘Come on, we’ll go to the mall.’ So we go to Nordstrom’s and I said, ‘You see anything you like?’ ‘No, no.’ So we look at the shoes, and [she says], ‘Oh, I like these sneakers.'”

    >Jay, who hosted The Tonight Show for more than three decades, recalled how Mavis liked a pair of “these bright blue sneakers” and he encouraged her to buy a second pair of shoes on the outing. She eventually settled on a pair of red-and-white sneakers, he recalls.

    >”So I see she’s happy, and I said ‘This is great.’ So I got two pairs of sneakers, and [the cashier says] ‘That’s $24. And the other pair, that’s $847,'” Jay says. “I go, ‘No, I only had two pairs of sneakers. I thought these were $24.’ [The cashier] goes, ‘Yeah, these are $24. But the other ones were [designer sneakers]. It looked like the guy took a pair of the same sneakers and used a bedazzler on them, and they were $800. I look at my wife and said, ‘You like these?’ I go, ‘Honey, you look great.'”

    >”It’s fine, I’m glad I can afford this and it made my wife happy. It just made me laugh. Just typical,” he continues. “I thought the $24 pair looked better than those, but that’s okay. It just made me laugh, and I think when you’re dealing with this kind of thing, you find your moments where you can have a laugh and have fun, and my wife really likes them and felt good about it.”

    >”So the fact that it was the same pair of sneakers that got hit with a bedazzler, I guess that’s fine. But it just made me laugh, and that’s pretty much what it is,” he adds.

  3. Jay has been faced with a lot of different life challenges lately. Guy’s a trooper!

  4. Wow I hadn’t seen a picture Jay in years. 

    Sucks that they’re going through this but it’s nice seeing people honor the vows they took.

  6. Hey, if you don’t find humor, that’s okay too. I’m sorry either way.

  8. There is no humor in the situation.

    People with dementia are actively dying in front of our eyes. Their physical bodies endure. The people they were do not.

    It is heartbreaking and the only thing worse is how much harder the healthcare system and insurance industry make it.

    He can afford the actual care she needs and he will find no humor in this, ever. He found some irony, that’s all.

  9. Happy Leno and his wife are making the best of it. Lost my grandmother to dementia years ago, horrible disease. Heart goes out to them.

  10. I have very rarely found what Jay Leno has done funny since he took over for Carson. Got a couple chuckles, really disliked the Conan/Tonight Show fiasco, and so I don’t have a ton of professional respect for him.

    That said, the man has been put through the ringer over the last few years, and having to watch your partner go through all the things that she is going through is a near impossible ask.

    Godspeed Jay, I hope things get better for you.

  12. Does he still hide in the closet to hear what the doctors really think?

  13. Mr. Leno has really been through the wringer over the last few years.

  16. Several years ago, my mom had to be intubated and put in a medically induced coma after horrible complications of pneumonia and contrast dye (very long story). When she (miraculously) pulled through, the medications they gave her prior to extubation made her hallucinate for close to 72 hours, even though the nurses kept telling me the effects “should” have only lasted approx 12 hrs. Needless to say, my brother and I were beside ourselves and the longer it went on, the more scared we became.

    BUT, my brother decided the best way through it was to find the humor in it. He started joking *with* her about the crazy things she was “seeing” and thinking, (even though she really didn’t recognize either of us at that point).

    Amazingly, after she finally came down from that awful trip, those moments were the only ones my mom remembered from the entire 72 hours. Not the scary hallucinations, nor her paranoia that everyone was trying to kill her. She only remembered the funny things my brother said to her. (He also made me laugh so hard during that time, the nurses in the ICU asked me to keep it down so I didn’t disturb the other patients).

    Leno is right – sometimes the only way to make it through our most challenging times is to find the humor – *any* humor – in the situation.

  17. Say whatever you will about Jay, that is fine.

    But, I personally will never ever forget the time he had her on to talk about the horrors of the Taliban and what was happening in Afghanistan, this was maybe 99 or 2000. A year or so-ish later 9/11 happened. And today the Taliban is still a problem. I was aware at the time what was happening over there and applauded both Jay for giving her the platform and her courage to say it.

    Dementia is horrible for anybody to go through on either end. Speaking from experience. I wish them both the best on this journey.

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