Jay Leno has officially been granted conservatorship of his wife, Mavis Leno, following her dementia diagnosis.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge made the ruling on Tuesday, April 9, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly.
Jay, 73, filed for a conservatorship of Mavis, 77, in January, with the goal of setting up a living trust for his wife in the event of his death. He cited Mavis’ dementia diagnosis as the reason for his filing, according to documents obtained by Us at the time.
Mavis’ court-appointed counsel, Ronald Ostrin, shed more light on Mavis’ condition during a filing of his own obtained by Us earlier this month.
“According to her neurologist, Dr. Hart Cohen, she has advanced dementia, sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth,” the filing stated. “She has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago.”
Ostrin stated that despite Mavis’ “cognitive impairment,” she is still a “delightful person” with a “charming personality.” He noted that Mavis, who has been married to Jay since 1980, “consents” to the conservatorship and views Jay as “her protector.”
Ostrin also called Jay’s course of action “the least restrictive alternative and most protective of Ms. Leno” while continuing to “preserve her dignity.”
According to People, the judge told Leno during Tuesday’s hearing, “everything you’re doing is right,” before acknowledging the “difficult period” he is going through.
The conservatorship ruling comes days after Jay brought Mavis to his stand-up show at the Hollywood Improv comedy club in West Hollywood on Wednesday, April 3. The pair first met at one of Jay’s shows at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store in 1976.
“At the time I thought, ‘Holy s–t! That comedian is gorgeous!” Mavis recalled to the Los Angeles Times in September 2014. “I needed to go to the ladies’ room. What I didn’t know was in the Comedy Store back then, that area was the only place for the comedians to hang out. So when I came out of the bathroom, he said, ‘Are you that girl in front?’ And I said, ‘Yes, that was me.’”
Jay, meanwhile, praised his wife during a September 2023 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“I always [say], ‘Marry your conscience. Marry the person you wish you could be, who is kind and maybe whatever fault you have, doesn’t have those faults,’” he said. “That’s worked out for me, so to me, I married the perfect person. It worked out good.”
