Jay Leno has filed for a conservatorship over his wife of more than four decades, reports NBC News. In his court filing last week in Los Angeles, Leno says that Mavis suffers from dementia and cannot make her own decisions, and that he believes she would approve of the move. "Unfortunately, Mavis has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years," the petition states. Leno is 73 and his wife is 77. TMZ reports that Mavis actually has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
The couple met in the 1970s after Leno performed at the Comedy Store and married in 1980, according to People. They have no children, a decision that Mavis has said was hers. This is the first time Leno has made public mention of his wife's ailment. However, it might better explain his decision process in late 2022, after he suffered serious burns but opted to go home before going to a trauma center. "My wife doesn't drive anymore and I didn't want her stuck and not knowing what was going on," he said on the Today show. "It just seemed like the right thing to do, and I think it was." (More Jay Leno stories.)