UPDATE: 11/14/22 4:55 p.m. ET.
Leno gave fans an update on his condition on Monday, revealing in a statement to Variety that he “got some serious burns from a gasoline fire” on Sunday. He added that he is “OK,” but needs “a week or two to get back on my feet.”
Original story below:
Jay Leno is being tended to at a Los Angeles burn unit after skipping an appearance in Las Vegas, according to reports.
“His family was not able to provide us very many details, but there was a very serious medical emergency that is preventing Jay from traveling,” The Financial Brand wrote in an email to Forum 2022 attendees on Sunday, November 13, via People. “All we know is that he is alive, so our prayers go out to him and his family tonight.”
The former Tonight Show host, 72, was set to take the stage at a financial conference in Sin City on Sunday evening.
While Leno has yet to comment on the nature of his health scare, TMZ reported on Monday, November 14, that the New York native was undergoing treatment at the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles after allegedly suffering burns following a car fire.
The Jay Leno’s Garage star was reportedly burned on Sunday after one of his cars burst into flames at his storage garage in California, according to the outlet.
The TV personality previously opened up about his health in 2019 after being diagnosed with high cholesterol and seeing a blockage in his heart.
“We really want people to see the connection, because a lot of people don’t realize high cholesterol — and if you’ve had a heart attack or stroke, you’re increasing your risk for another one,” he said during a Cholesterol 911 video in March 2019. “It’s like an earthquake, it might not destroy the house, but it certainly weakens the structure.”
Leno continued: “There’s a lot of people walking around like that, they’re just time bombs. You’ve got all this cholesterol, you don’t realize it until it actually hits, you know? It’s like in a car, if even one piece of dirt gets in the eye of the needle of the jet, and boom and no more gas comes through. And that’s what happens with your heart.”
The comedian explained that he had started to manage his cholesterol by taking medication and monitoring his heart rhythm with a portable EKG device.
Later that month, the Jay Leno Show alum exclusively told Us Weekly why he was done with late night talk shows after retiring from The Tonight Show five years prior.
“I don’t really [miss it]. I loved it when I did it,” Leno confessed at the time. “But at some point, you can’t keep pretending you know all of Jay-Z‘s music. When you get to be my age, [it’s like,] ‘Oh yeah, right, right.’ I’m at the point now where I’m hearing oldies I didn’t hear the first time. That’s an oldie now? I didn’t even hear it when it came out in ’98. No, I missed it. So that’s where it’s at.”
The Emmy winner — who hosted the NBC series from 1992 to 2009 and then from 2010 to 2014 — concluded: “TV is basically a young person’s game. …You do it for as long as you can, and then you hand it off. Handing it off to Jimmy was a great thrill.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Leno’s team for comment.
