As he recovers from his terrifying car fire and motorcycle accident, Jay Leno discusses his unexpected retirement plans.
The former Tonight Show anchor encountered two distinct events in late 2022.
Jay Leno has had a difficult few months due to not one but two catastrophic occurrences that left him with numerous injuries all over his body.
The 73-year-old musician was working on a vintage car in his Los Angeles garage when a terrible car fire damaged him. He later spent nine days at West Hills Hospital’s Grossman Burn Center.
He consequently sustained severe second-and third-degree burns. He was harmed while riding a motorcycle a little over a month later, on January 27, breaking his collarbone and two ribs.
Despite the streak of failures, the comedian, who presently hosts Jay Leno’s Garage and the NBC game show You Bet Your Life, has no plans to stop anytime soon.
At the Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge premiere, Leno was open and honest with Page Six about his retirement plans—spoiler alert: he doesn’t have any—and what it would take to step away from the spotlight.
“Unless I have a stroke,” the seasoned late-night anchor fiercely declared, “I have no plans to retire.” Then you slow down, he added.
He said he would continue working until his health made it necessary for him to stop, adding, “That’s when you retire when you have your stroke.”
Leno performed admirably in both of his most recent crashes. Despite a nine-day hospital stay that included multiple grafting surgeries, he immediately returned to driving and even made it to the accident site.
Less than a week later, a sold-out crowd and standing ovations greeted his return to the stage at the Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California.
The former late-night host discussed his car fire disaster with People a month after the occurrence, saying: “When you work with cars, you have a lot of accidents,” but adding: “But this is bigger than most.”
He stated, “I realized how close I was to the pilot light, and I thought, ‘Uh oh.'” He recalled receiving a “full face of gasoline” while repairing a fuel pipe clogged in the undercarriage of a 1907 White Steam Car.
It “felt exactly like my face was on fire,” he said. “Maybe like the most intense sunburn you’ve ever had, that’d be fair to say.”
He underwent two skin grafting procedures while in the hospital to help create healthier new skin and sessions in hyperbaric chambers to assist in oxygenating tissue. He didn’t want to take medicines during this time since they were “a reminder that I’m an idiot” therefore, they were a distraction.
His renowned friends and relatives kindly showed their support for him as well. When he was recuperating at the burn center, his 43-year-old wife Mavis informed him that Russell Crowe had called from Australia, Tom Selleck had given flowers, and John Travolta had brought him a sizable Italian basket. “After spending so much time in this field, it was moving to feel that affection.”
