Mavis Leno is speaking out for the first time since a judge agreed her husband Jay Leno should be the conservator of her estate.
In April, Jay had to take the heartbreaking steps of becoming Mavis’s conservator after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “Everything you’re doing is right,” the judge told Jay during the conservatorship hearing.
“I totally understand this is a difficult period.” The judge then confirmed that Mavis “consents” to the conservatorship and that Jay is “fit” to serve as conservator as Mavis continues to battle Alzheimer’s.
For the first time since that hearing, Mavis is speaking publicly about how she is doing amid her battle.
"This is exactly what America needs right now," Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld share a moment on the #Unfrosted carpet pic.twitter.com/WTtnJsulBo
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 1, 2024
While accompanying her husband on the red carpet celebrating Jerry Seinfield’s new Netflix movie Unfrosted, Mavis spoke with Entertainment Tonight. “I feel great,” Mavis told the reporter.
“We wanted to come to something fun for a change,” Jay added. “Everything is so controversial. Just to come to a funny, silly movie — it’s great. I think people are going to have a great time.”
But as Jay Leno continued, he says everything they’ve done together over the last 44 years of marriage has been a great time. “Well, we hang out every day. We have a great time. Forty-four years, so we’re doing good.”
While the couple didn’t talk openly about Mavis’s battle with Alzheimer’s, court records reveals that she has “advanced stage dementia,” according to neurologist, Dr. Hart Cohen. “Sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth,” the records revealed. “She has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago.”
Yet, despite her health battles, the records confirmed what Jay said on the red carpet, that Mavis is still a “delightful person” with a “charming personality.”
The filings revealed that Jay is Mavis’ “protector and she trusts him.” Her neurologist was quoted in the filing confirming those sentiments, adding Jay Leno is “such a nice man and treats [Mavis] like gold.”