Jay Leno shares rare update on wife Mavis during her ‘tricky’ dementia battle

Jay Leno denied that taking care of his wife, Mavis Leno, is “work” in a touching interview about her “tricky” dementia battle.

The former talk show host, 75, gave a rare update about his partner’s health to People on Sunday, saying he “like[s] taking care” of the 79-year-old and “enjoy[s] her company.”

He gushed, “We have a good time. We have fun with it, and it is what it is.”

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Jay insisted over the weekend that the caretaking is “not terrible,” pointing out that he is “lucky” because “it’s not cancer [and] not a tumor.”

He acknowledged, “There are going to be a couple of years that are tricky. So, the first 46 [years of our marriage were] really great. But it’s OK.”

“I’m not a woe-is-me person,” Jay added.

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The former “Tonight Show” host married Mavis in November 1980.

In January, the Emmy winner filed for a conservatorship over Mavis following her Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

He shared at the time his plans “to execute an estate plan, including a revocable trust and will, which will provide for Mavis and Mavis’s brother and her sole living heir aside from Jay.”

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The conservatorship was granted three months later.

Jay spoke about Mavis’ condition in April, addressing the “challenge” of caring for his wife.

The comedian, who has to “find the humor” in his situation to navigate it, told “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” podcast listeners that a moment like this “really defines a marriage.”

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He explained, “I mean, that’s really what love is. That’s what you do.”

Jay quipped, “When you get married, you sort of take a vow: ‘Will I live up to this? Or will I be, like, a sleazy guy [where] if something happens to my wife, I’m out banging the cashier at the mini mart?'”

The couple’s marriage has not changed in their 45 years together except, he joked, “now I have to feed her.”