Jay Leno is asking the courts for approval to sell property. In April 2024, the court granted the former “Tonight Show” host conservatorship of his wife, Mavis Leno’s estate, after his petition in January 2024. Mavis is suffering from advanced dementia, and the Los Angeles County Superior Court found that Jay was “suitable and qualified” to be her conservator, NBC News reports.
Jay Leno’s Plans for the Future
GettyOn Sunday, August 23, TMZ reported an update on the conservatorship, saying Leno wanted the New Hampshire courts “to recognize his wife’s conservatorship in California so he can sell one of their New England properties.” The outlet reveals that Jay plans to sell property that he and Mavis jointly own. They describe this property as a two-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch built in 1995, and listed just under $400K. It went on sale in June.
The conservatorship stems from Mavis’s declining health. Court documents, per NBC News, state that she has “been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years.” They also revealed that “sometimes she does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth.”
Jay is Mavis’s primary caregiver, and he has spoken publicly about the impact of taking on that role. In an appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” in April 2025, he said, “When you get married, you sort of take a vow: ‘Will I live up to this? Or will I be like a sleazy guy if something happens to my wife, I’m out banging the cashier at the mini mart?'” he said. “No, I didn’t. I enjoy the time with my wife. I go home, I cook dinner for her, watch TV, and it’s okay. It’s basically what we did before, except now I have to feed her and do all those things.”
He continued. “But I like it. I like taking care of her. She’s a very independent woman, so I like that I’m needed.”
Jay Leno Discusses Caring for His Beloved Wife
The couple has been married for over four decades, and they celebrated their wedding on November 3, 1980. They never had children. In an interview with People, Jay said, “I always tell guys when they meet a woman, ‘Marry your conscience. Marry someone who’s the person you wish you could be, and it works out okay.'”
In an interview with “Today,” Jay spoke about the struggles of being married to someone with advanced dementia. “I mean, probably the toughest part was, every day she’d wake up and realize someone had called today to tell her her mother had passed away,” he said. “And her mother died every day for, like, three years. And it was not just crying, I mean, you’re learning for the first time. Each time was — and that was really tricky. Yeah, that makes it hard.”
However, the former late-night host also revealed the importance of the wedding vows he made over 40 years ago. “The idea that you get married and you take these vows, nobody ever thinks they’ll be called upon to act on them, you know?” he said. “You know that part for better or worse. But even the ‘worse’ is not that bad.”
