Jay Leno has made a career out of making people laugh, but when it comes to his marriage, the longtime comedian takes things very seriously. As his wife Mavis battles advanced dementia, Leno says he’s choosing to honor the vows he made more than 40 years ago — a commitment that, surprisingly, has shocked some in Hollywood.

During a recent appearance on the “Life Above the Noise with Maria Shriver” podcast, Leno described the unexpected reactions he’s received while caring for his wife. “You take a vow when you get married, and people are stunned … they’re so shocked that you would live up to it. Why?” he said.

Shriver was equally puzzled by the cultural moment. “In sickness and in health. … Then, when there is a sickness and you’re there, you’re saying people are like, ‘Whoa,’” she said.

But the most jaw-dropping suggestion came straight from Hollywood itself.

“Yeah, my favorite thing was — and this is the most Hollywood thing — a guy said to me, ‘Uh, so are you going to get a girlfriend now?’” Leno shared. “Well, no, I have a girlfriend. I’m married. I’ve been married 45 years. ‘Yeah, but you know what I mean.’ No … we’re kind of in this together, you know. You can’t, ‘Honey, honey, I’ll be with my girlfriend, I’ll be back later.’ That was like the most Hollywood thing. It just made me laugh.”

Shriver asked if the response from others had surprised him, and Leno admitted that it has. “We just make a big deal out of it,” he said. “You’re just doing the right thing because you’re supposed to. Right? That’s kind of — 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. Well, we kind of made a deal, you know.”

Leno, 75, married Mavis in 1980, and although the couple never had children, their partnership has been central to both of their lives. He doesn’t describe caregiving as a burden, but rather as a responsibility he took on long ago — one he still stands by today.

Earlier in 2024, Leno filed for conservatorship over Mavis’ estate, saying she “lacks the necessary capacity to execute the estate plan” due to “major neurocognitive disorders (including dementia),” according to court filings obtained by Fox News Digital.

While many know Mavis as the spouse of a television icon, she has her own remarkable legacy. In 2002, she earned a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for advocating on behalf of Afghan women living under Taliban rule — an issue she championed long before it reached mainstream attention. The couple first met in the 1970s at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles and have been inseparable ever since.

For Leno, loyalty isn’t unusual — it’s simply what marriage means. And in a town that often celebrates reinvention and moving on, his steadfast devotion may be the most surprising thing of all.