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Parasocial? More parasocially awkward. Jay Leno explained how, amid his wife of 45 years, Mavis’s, ongoing battle with dementia, someone asked him if he was going to get a girlfriend. Gross. “My favorite thing was—this is the most Hollywood thing,” Leno told the Life Above the Noise With Maria Shriver show. “A guy said to me, ‘So, are you gonna get a girlfriend now?’” Leno has been acting as a caregiver for his wife and filed and was approved for a conservatorship for her in 2024. But for some people, they might think suffering from a serious illness becomes a hallpass. Thankfully, Leno doesn’t see it that way. “‘Well no, I have a girlfriend. I’m married. Married 45 years,’” he told the person. “No, we’re kinda in this together here.” Of course, the comedian had to get a few jokes into the comical situation. He laughed that he would tell his wife, “‘Honey, I’ll be with my girlfriend. I’ll be back later.’”
The former late-night host then explained how, nowadays, people are surprised by commitment. “You take a vow when you get married and people are stunned. They’re so shocked that you live up to it. Why?” he concluded. “That used to be the norm, and then when you strayed, that was the out of whack part. Now the out of whack part is fairly common, and staying and doing what you’re supposed to do is stunning to people.”
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