Jay Leno feels 'very lucky' despite burn accident, challenges with wife's dementia battle

Jay Leno isn’t one to complain.

The former "Tonight Show" host has kept a positive outlook over the past couple of years as he’s faced several personal struggles.

In 2022, Leno was working on one of his cars in his garage when an accident occurred, giving him third-degree burns on his face and sending him to the ICU. 

But when asked if he was ever nervous about returning to his garage, he responded with a resounding, "No!"

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"I got burned in a fire. I got a face 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’s a celebrity. 

Leno noted he "was out in eight and a half days" from the hospital and "I missed two days' work. So it wasn't bad. It was that is better than the broken leg, believe me."

He needed multiple skin grafts for his facial injuries, and just two months later, he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident.

"I was on my motorcycle, and the guy had to wire across a driveway but with no flag on it. And I turned, and the sun was in my eyes. And so it tore my face across," the 74-year-old said.

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He joked that he "had to call my face guy and go, ‘Listen, remember that new face you gave me? You got another 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, right?"

"I used to look like Abe Lincoln" he continued with a laugh. "No, I look exactly the same, just a better version … I’m saving face, put it that way. Or I’m a two-faced guy, any way you want to take it."

Leno and his family faced another health issue when the news went public that his wife of 44 years, Mavis, had advanced dementia.

"It's OK. You know, it's life. Everybody goes through it," Leno said of Mavis’ current condition.

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He continued, "I've been very lucky in my life. I don't complain about everything. We have a lot of fun, and I cook dinner for her every night."

"She's good. She's good, you know? It's changes you have to make, but that's OK. That's OK".

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Leno is also focused on his other long-term love, cars, with a new season of "Jay Leno’s Garage."

"We do a new video every week, anything that rolls, explodes, makes noise. That's pretty much it. Steam engines, motorcycles," the comedian said of the show.

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But he’s always looking to innovate on the series and check out new cars and vehicles, regardless of complaints from gearheads.

"I love how passionate people – like people go, ‘If you do another EV [electric vehicle], I am not watching ever again.’ I go, ’OK … you know Mark Twain used to say, "I like progress, it’s change I don't like."' And car guys are pretty conservative. They want to see the same thing every week. Well, but you don't grow that way, you know, so we try to … cover all aspects of transportation."

One of the recent episodes covered the Big Boy Steam train, which Leno thought would make some people angry despite its impressive stats.

"This thing is like the Empire State Building turned sideways. It's pulling a train of cars five miles long. It's five miles long each. Each train car holds 600 tons. And you go, how powerful is that? You know, it was just a surreal experience. It was built [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 that one, you know? So that was good," he said.

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As a longtime interviewer, Leno will, of course, have celebrity guests on the show from the car world and Hollywood, like Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, Tim Allen and Jeff Dunham.

When it comes to Allen, who Leno says is "very knowledgeable on most cars," or fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who’s "go-to" car know-how is for the Porsche, he’s not surprised by their interest in cars.

"But then you get people like Jon Hamm, who I didn't think of as a car guy, but he is," Leno said. "You’d be surprised how many people really like automobiles."

Leno has been well-known for his love of classic cars, but according to him, "It’s so much 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 miles an hour, you could die in a crash."

He recalled witnessing a serious accident between a Corvette and a Subaru once, and "both cars were unrecognizable" but "both drivers walked away."

"It’s amazing how safe cars have gotten," he added.

Hosting "Jay Leno’s Garage" has given the star a chance to have many of his childhood dreams come true as a lifelong car fanatic.

"You know, all these guys you used to read about when I was a kid, you know, you'd have your Hot Rod magazine in math class below the book, and you're reading it, and you read about all these people. So it was pretty cool." 

"I mean, it's a great life," he added with a smile.

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