Jay Leno Shares Update 2 Years After Burn Accident and Motorcycle Crash

Life is looking up for Jay Leno.

Two years after surviving a frightening gasoline fire, the comedian offered a rare life update before presenting his surgeon, Dr. Peter Grossman, with the Outstanding Achievement in Medicine Award at the 2024 Daytime Beauty Awards on Sept. 30.

Explaining that he's been on the road a lot, Leno exclusively told E! News on the red carpet, "It's good. Things are good. I can't complain."

"I just write jokes, tell jokes, get checked," he noted. "Very simple process." 

And there's one reason in particular that the 74-year-old feels "very happy" in life: his wife Mavis Leno.

"I've been very lucky. I've been married to the same woman 45 years," he shared, adding that the secret to a long-lasting relationship is "don't screw around—pretty simple."

As for what's on the horizon for the former Tonight Show host, Leno joked that he just hopes his "next chapter" doesn't include his "next accident."

Back in November 2022, Leno sustained burns to his face, arms and hands while working on one of his collectible cars. After being admitted to the Grossman Burn Center, Leno underwent surgery to get a "brand new face" in what he described as a "seamless" process.

"My recovery was nine days. I missed two days of work, so it was not bad," he told E!. "Better than the face I had, so I'll take it."

While honoring Grossman onstage, Leno recalled how he immediately headed to the burn center after he "got a face full of gasoline and caught on fire." However, Leno realized his wife Mavis didn't know where he was and since she was "having some health problems," he decided to head home and return the next day.

"I drive home, I see my wife and I go to sleep, not realizing this is still burning," he shared. "When I wake up, I can’t get the pillow off my face. So, I’m sitting there with scissors trying to cut the pillow off. So, Dr. Grossman took the pillow off my face."

Although he went on to have a successful facial surgery and recovery, Leno unfortunately experienced another devastating incident just weeks later, breaking his collarbone and two ribs—as well as cracking both kneecaps—in a motorcycle accident in January 2023. 

"I’m riding my motorcycle and a guy had a wire across the road, and boom, it tore my face," he remembered. "I called Dr. Grossman and I said, ‘Listen, I need another face. The other face you got was great, but I just need another.'"

He quipped, "So I guess I am officially a two-faced bastard now."

According to Grossman, Leno healed "very well" from the procedures even though his burns were "quite significant."

"The biggest challenge with dealing with Jay Leno was that the entire world was watching as it was happening," the board-certified plastic surgeon exclusively told E! at the Daytime Beauty Awards. "And that's a little bit of added pressure in a field that already has a lot of pressure to it."

"But," Grossman continued, "probably the greatest part is learning the type of individual that Jay was. Jay is kind, he's generous and he is as down to earth as you can imagine, and just a genuinely good person and has become, for me, a role model."

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