By Michaela Gordoni
Jay Leno recently opened up about the most difficult aspects of his wife, Mavis’, dementia.
“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,” said Leno, who’s been married to Mavis for nearly 45 years. “And her mother died every day for, like, three years.”
Every day, it was as if she was learning the news for the first time.
“Not just crying, I mean, you’re learning for the first time. And that was really tricky,” he said.
She has to be constantly reassured.
Related: How Jay Leno Chooses Love Amid Wife’s Dementia Battle
“Now she really needs me and I like that. And I can tell she appreciates it,” he said. “The idea that you get married, you take these vows, nobody ever thinks they’ll be called upon to act on them. You know that part – for better or worse. Even the worse isn’t that bad.”
“Her appetite’s really come back,” Leno said. “I wish I could take her out and go out to eat and things like that, but you can’t really. We’ll get some help and we’ll take her out in the car and drive around and look at stuff.”
She enjoys that, but sometimes Leno feels bad that she can’t enjoy normal experiences.
“You reach this point in your life where she loves to travel and I’m sad she can’t do those things,” he said.
There are still some things that haven’t changed, though.
“When she looks at me and smiles and says she loves me, I melt,” he shared.
Earlier this month he told PEOPLE, “It’s not work, because people come up, and say they feel so sorry. I understand the sympathy, because I know a lot of people are going through it, but it’s okay,” Leno said. “I like taking care of her. I enjoy her company, and we have a good time. We have fun with it, and it is what it is.”
He previously said he feels fortunate to be his wife’s caregiver.
“There are going to be a couple of years that are tricky,” he said, but “it’s not terrible,” because “I’m not a woe-is-me person. I’m just lucky that I am able to take care of her.”
“I mean, that’s really what love is. That’s what you do,” Leno said in September. “I mean, I’m glad I didn’t cut and run.
“I’m glad I didn’t run off with some woman half my age or any of that silly nonsense. I would rather be with her than doing something else,” he said.
Mavis is fortunate to have Leno to care for her.
Read Next: Jay Leno Protects Wife as She Battles Dementia: ‘She Trusts Him’
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