Jay Leno opens up about his health after a recent 60-foot fall to injuries from a garage fire

From belly laughing on stage to hosting a talk show, Jay Leno has always had a tough skin as a comedian. He is also quite resilient in his personal life.

Over the years, Leno has dealt with a number of health problems, ranging from broken bones and severe burns to dyslexia and high cholesterol. Through it all, the 74-year-old has shown his trademark sense of humor and refused to be deterred by setbacks.

Below, find out everything Leno has shared about his health over the years.

2024: He injured his face and injured his eye after falling down a hill

Even a 60-foot fall on a hill couldn’t stop Leno. In November 2024, the comedian spoke to Inside Edition after he had a pretty serious accident.

“I got beat up a little bit,” he said. “I fell 60 feet. Boom, boom, boom, boom.”

While on his way to dinner, the star rolled down a hill and walked away with a series of injuries after hitting “a bunch of rocks.”

“I broke my wrist. And then I’m all black and blue from 60 feet of colliding with rocks,” he said.

The comedian wore an eye patch during the interview and explained that his face and eye hit a rock during the fall. Yet he recovered quickly.

“What else should you do?” he said.

2023: He suffered multiple injuries in a motorcycle accident

In January 2023, Leno revealed that he suffered a broken collarbone, two broken ribs and two cracked kneecaps after an accident while riding his 1940 Indian Motorcycle.

In an interview with NBC News, Leno said he smelled leaking gas while driving and tried to stop in an empty parking lot.

“So I turn around, I start cutting through a parking lot. And there was a wire between two posts that wasn’t marked properly and boom, I got the net – he pulled the clothesline on me, hit me in the neck and threw me off the bike,” he said. “And the bike kept going and I was on the ground. So that’s about the end of it.”

Leno’s spokesperson told NBC News that the star had shoulder surgery and some lingering “issues with his knees” but was “OK.”

While speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the accident, Leno explained that he tried to keep quiet after the accident because of all the media attention his latest accident (more on that below) brought about.

“You know, if you’re burned, you get it for free,” he said. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing planes. You just want to keep your head down.”

2022: Leno was severely burned in a garage fire

Leno’s love for cars runs deep, but his passion got him into trouble in 2022 when he caught fire while working on a 1907 White Steam car. The incident occurred after the car’s pilot light went off.

As the comedian told TODAY’s Hoda Kotb the month after the accident, the car’s fuel line was clogged, so he went under the car to take a look.

“I said, ‘Blow some air through the pipe,’” he told his friend Dave Killackey, who was sitting above the car. And so did Killackey.

The fuel line made a noise, Leno recalled, and then suddenly “a face full of gasoline.”

“And then the pilot light blew and my face caught fire,” he recalls.

Killackey helped put out the flames and Leno went to the bathroom to pour cold water on his face. Instead of going to the hospital as doctors suggested, the comedian opted to go home because he knew his wife would be worried.

Leno soon went to the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles and was treated for third-degree burns. During a nine-day stay, he spent eight hours a day in a hyperbaric chamber so oxygen could help speed the recovery process.

Leno’s doctor told NBC News that the comedian had burns on “about 7% of his body.”

While speaking with Hoda, Leno showed his trademark humor and said he wasn’t too concerned about the burns affecting his appearance.

“If you’re anything like me, you don’t really worry about how you look,” he said. “Look, if I’m George Clooney, it’s going to be a huge problem. But they said it would be fine, so you know my attitude is, I trust people who are the best to do what they do.

2019: Leno told the TODAY crew about his high cholesterol

Leno put his platform to good use in 2019, serving as a paid spokesperson for an ad campaign about the dangers of high cholesterol. In a TV advertisement, the comedian opened up about his personal experiences with the health condition.

“I have really high cholesterol, you know, the stuff that can clog your arteries and lead to a heart attack or stroke,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough not to have had a heart attack or stroke, but I have many friends who have, and it’s important for them to seek out these new treatments and do what they can do to reduce that bad cholesterol.” lower.”

While Leno discussed the campaign during the third hour of TODAY, Al Roker asked if the comedian was inspired to change his diet and learn more about cholesterol at the same time.

“Somewhat, not drastically,” he replied. “But you know, cholesterol is one of those deals where it’s not like we have an upset stomach (and say), ‘Well, let me go to the doctor. I had a friend of mine who runs three miles every day and boom, he had a stroke and he was in good health. And look at me, I’m sitting at home watching you guys.

2017: Leno spoke about his experience with dyslexia

Leno offered words of encouragement for anyone dealing with dyslexia in a 2017 video for the nonprofit Child Mind Institute.

According to the Mayo Clinic, dyslexia is a “learning disorder associated with reading difficulties due to difficulty identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding).”

During the video, Leno talked about his own childhood experiences with dyslexia, saying the mentality surrounding the condition was much more intense decades ago.

“When I was a kid, this was the cure for dyslexia,” he said, slapping his face twice as he repeated the phrase, “Hey, do better.”

Leno went on to talk about the wise words his mother gave him when he was having a hard time.

“My mom always told me, ‘Hey look, you’re just going to have to work twice as hard as the other kids to get the same thing.’ And you know, I applied that to life (I thought) ‘I’ll just stay an extra hour.’ “So I didn’t just have to match the other kids. I also had to do better because I was focused on my subject.”

According to Leno, dyslexia often causes people to “focus like a laser beam,” which can be a positive trait.

“You tend to focus all your efforts in that direction and you don’t get as distracted as other people. So for every disadvantage there is an advantage. And I think that’s our advantage. When we find something we’re good at , we can go there and we will be successful,” he said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com