Jay Leno and his wife, Mavis LenoThey were all smiles at the Los Angeles premiere of Unfrosted At Tuesday evening.
Just a few weeks later, the 74-year-old comedian was the custody of the joint estate is granted He tells Mavis, 77, about her battle with dementia, which the couple attended the red carpet event to support Jerry Seinfeldis the new Netflix film – coming to the streaming platform on May 3 – and shared an update on how they’re currently doing.
“I feel great,” Mavis told ET’s Kevin Frazier while waiting for her husband of 44 years to arrive for the interview.
The philanthropist smiled and laughed, leaning into Jay as he explained why they decided to make it a date night Unfrosted Premiere.
“I thought I’d find something funny for a change,” the former late-night host joked. “Everything is so controversial. Just to get to a fun, silly movie – it’s great. I think people are going to have a great time.”
As for their lasting love, Jay says the key is being with his best friend and spending as much time together as possible.
“Well, we hang out every day,” he said of their close relationship. “We are having a great time. 44 years.” [married]So we’re fine.”
Their love only grew stronger in the last few months after Jay filed an application for conservatorship of Mavis’ estate back in January. At the time, he asked a Los Angeles judge to approve his offer so he could “structure her trust fund and other estate plans” in the event he died before her.
In court documents obtained by ET, Jay and his lawyers wrote that the conservatorship – a different type of petition than one that would grant him authority over her person and health – was necessary as her condition continued to rapidly deteriorate.
“Mavis has been increasingly losing capacity and orientation in relation to space and time for several years,” one file says. “Jay is fully capable of continuing to provide for Mavis’ physical and financial needs, as he has throughout their marriage,” but her “current condition renders her incapable of implementing the estate plan.”
A month after this news first broke, ET has obtained documents in connection with Jay’s conservatorship request, in which Mavis’ court-appointed legal counsel, Ronald Ostrin, asked the court to grant the offer. In the filing, Ostrin wrote that he examined Mavis’ advanced form of dementia and spoke with doctors who provided context about the severity of her condition.
Court-appointed counsel for Mavis wrote that her neurologist, Dr. Hart Cohen said she “sometimes doesn’t know her husband, Jay, or her date of birth.” According to Dr. Cohen often finds Mavis “severely disoriented” and “ponders about her parents, both deceased, and her mother, who died about 20 years ago.”
Dr. Cohen – a neurologist at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles – also told Ostrin that Jay “loves his wife very much” and “treats his wife.” [Mavis] like gold.” He further claimed that the former host of the Tonight’s show waited to bring about a conservatorship of the property “out of respect for her.”
Ultimately, Judge Brenda Penny – the same judge who did the oversight Dispute over Brittney Spears’ estate – sided with Jay and Ostrin and granted the conservatorship in early April. In a hearing at the time, Ostrin said he believed Mavis would be cared for by her husband as part of the order.
“She is very blessed. [H]Because my own mother suffers from dementia, Ms. Leno lives in an environment where there are hardly any restrictions and is very well looked after. “They have a good strategic plan,” Ostrin said.
Penny agreed, telling Jay, who appeared via Zoom, “I know it’s a hard time for this to happen and I thank you.”
Jay politely replied, “Thank you, Your Honor.”
In the weeks since that last update, the couple has stayed out of the public eye, even skipping big birthday celebrations for the Emmy winner, who turned 74 on April 28. Jay and Mavis — who don’t have children — told ET on Unfrosted Premiere that they are not big birthday people.
“We just have each other,” Mavis said.
“My life is a party anyway,” her husband added. “Every day is a good day.”
This party has been going on since the mid-1970s when they first started dating. In 2014 Jay spoke to ET at a Television Academy Hall of Fame event and testified to the strength of their decades-long marriage and said that after 34 years, he has no regrets.
“I would do the exact same thing, I would marry the same person,” he said. “I would do everything exactly the same.”
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