Jay Leno describes 'finding humour' amid wife's dementia battle

Jay Leno has explained how he tries to find rare moments where he can laugh while caring for his wife.

The 74-year-old talk show icon was granted conservatorship over his spouse, Mavis Leno, last year following her advanced dementia diagnosis.

Opening up to People, Jay explained it is heartbreaking when his wife doesn't recognise him, but added, "You try to find the humour in this situation."

Giving an example, he said, "I took my wife shopping, I can see she's a little down, (so I said), 'Come on, we'll go to the mall.'

"We go to Nordstrom's and I said, 'You see anything you like?' ... and (she says), 'Oh, I like these sneakers.' So I see she's happy, and I said 'This is great.'"

Jay revealed he was left gobsmacked when he reached the till with two pairs that he thought were similar, recalling, "I got two pairs of sneakers, and (the cashier says) 'That's $24 (£19). And the other pair, that's $847 (£680).' I go, 'No, I only had two pairs of sneakers. I thought these were $24.'

"(The cashier) goes, 'Yeah, these are $24. But the other ones were (designer).' It looked like the guy took a pair of the same sneakers and used a bedazzler on them, and they were $800 (£645)."

The talk show star continued, "I'm glad I can afford this and it made my wife happy. It just made me laugh. Just typical. I thought the $24 pair looked better than those, but that's okay."

He added, "I think when you're dealing with this kind of thing, you find your moments where you can have a laugh and have fun, and my wife really likes them and felt good about it."