'The Tonight Show' host Jay Leno opens up about getting 'a face full of gas' in ICU

James Douglas Muir Leno, who goes by the name Jay Leno, recently got candid and showed his gratitude despite facing several challenges. 

According to Fox News, the former host of NBC's The Tonight Show has gone through many personal struggles, and in 2022, Leno met an incident while working on one of the cars in his garage that sent him to the ICU, giving him third-degree burns on his face.

Reflecting on his incident and his fans’ reaction, Leno jokingly said, "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," 

The 74-year-old media personality also highlighted that he "was out in eight and a half days" from the hospital and added that "I missed two days' work. So it wasn't bad. It was that is better than the broken leg, believe me."

Moreover, just two months later, while taking multiple skin grafts for his facial injuries, he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident.

Shedding light on the details of his accident, he explained, "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."

“I 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." 

"I used to look like Abe Lincoln. 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," he jokingly remarked. 

For those unversed, Leno faced another challenge when his 44-year-old wife Mavis was diagnosed with advanced dementia in April this year. 

However, he maintained his calm aura on Mavis’s current situation and said, "It's OK. You know, it's life. Everybody goes through it.” 

"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,” he concluded by saying.

It is pertinent to mention that for his long-term love for cars, Leno is occupied with a new season of his show Jay Leno’s Garage.

The show will air on his YouTube channel as the series was canceled from network broadcast after the eighth season in January 2023.