Jay Leno feels “very happy” despite his wife’s fire accident and challenges battling dementia

Jay Leno isn’t one to complain.

The former “Tonight Show” host has maintained a positive attitude in recent years as he battled several personal issues.

In 2022, Leno was working on one of his cars in his garage when an accident occurred that left him with third-degree burns on his face and sent him to intensive care.

But when asked if he was ever nervous about returning to his garage, he answered with a resounding “No!”

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“I burned myself in a fire. My face was full of gas. A spark jumped.” [It’s] not like, ‘How did this happen?’ I mean, people get burned every day,” he told Fox News Digital, joking that people reacted more strongly because he was a celebrity.

Leno noted that he was “released from the hospital in eight and a half days” and “I missed two days of work. So it wasn’t bad. It was better than the broken leg, believe me.”

His facial injuries required him to undergo multiple skin grafts and just two months later he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident.

“I was on my motorbike and the guy had to go through a driveway but without a flag. And I turned around and the sun was shining in my eyes. And then my face ripped open,” the 74-year-old said.

Leno said he was released from the hospital “in eight and a half days” after his accident. (Fremantle)

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He joked that he had to “call my face and say, ‘Listen, remember that new face you gave me? Do you still have a face there? I need another one.’ [He said] “All right, come on,” and he went and gave me another face,” adding, “You can’t see the zipper, can you?”

“I used to look like Abe Lincoln,” he continued, laughing. “No, I look the same, just a better version… I’m saving face, so to speak. Or I’m a two-faced guy, however you want to take it.”

Leno and his family faced another health challenge when it was revealed that his wife of 44 years, Mavis, was suffering from advanced dementia.

“It’s okay. You know, it’s life. Everyone goes through this,” Leno said of Mavis’ current condition.

Leno said he has been “very lucky in my life” and cooks dinner “every night” for his wife Mavis, who has advanced dementia. (Nina Zacuto)

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He continued: “I have been very lucky in my life. I don’t complain about anything. We have a lot of fun and I cook dinner for her every night.”

“She’s good. She’s good, you know? There are changes that need to be made, but that’s okay. That’s fine.”

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Leno is also focusing on his other longtime love, cars, with a new season of “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

“We make a new video every week, everything that rolls, explodes, makes noise. That’s pretty much it. Steam engines, motorcycles,” the comedian said of the show.

Leno says his show “Jay Leno’s Garage” “covers everything that rolls, explodes, makes noise.” (Fremantle)

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But he is always looking for innovations in the series and tests new cars and vehicles, regardless of complaints from the transmission.

“I love how passionate people – like humans – say, ‘If you make another electric vehicle.’ [electric vehicle]”I’m never watching again.” I say, “Okay… you know Mark Twain always said, ‘I like progress, I don’t like change.'” And car people are pretty conservative. They want to see the same thing every week. Well, yeah, but that’s not how you grow, you know, so we’re trying to…cover all aspects of transportation.”

One of the last episodes was about the Big Boy Steam move, which Leno believed would piss some people off despite its impressive stats.

“This thing is like the Empire State Building turned sideways. It pulls a five mile long wagon train a surreal experience [in] 1941. They built 25 of them. It was a fascinating piece of history. And I thought some people would be angry. People actually like it, you know? So that was good,” he said.

“I have been very lucky in my life. I don’t complain about anything.”

–Jay Leno

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As a long-time interviewer, Leno will of course have prominent guests from the automotive world and Hollywood on the show, such as Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Tim Allen and Jeff Dunham.

When it comes to Allen, who Leno says is “very knowledgeable about most cars,” or fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld, whose automotive expertise extends to the Porsche, the interest in cars surprises him not.

“But then you have guys like Jon Hamm, who I didn’t think was a car guy, but he is,” Leno said. “You’d be surprised how many people actually like cars.”

Leno is known for his love of vintage cars, but in his opinion, “it’s a lot better now.”

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“In the ’60s, cars were fast, but they didn’t stop,” he said. “And they didn’t go around corners, and at 15 mph you could die in an accident.”

He recalled once witnessing a serious accident between a Corvette and a Subaru in which “both cars were unrecognizable” but “both drivers ran away.”

“It’s amazing how safe cars have become,” he added.

Hosting “Jay Leno’s Garage” gave the star the chance to make many of his childhood dreams come true as a lifelong car enthusiast.

Leno said it was “pretty cool” to meet many of the people in the car world he read about as a kid. (Fremantle)

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“You know, all these guys you read about as a kid, you know, you had your Hot Rod magazine under the book in math class, and you read it and you read about all these people.” . So it was pretty cool.

“I mean, it’s a great life,” he added, smiling.

“Jay Leno’s Garage” is now airing on RIG TV.