Alex Trebek is grateful every day for having his wife Jean by his side.
The old “Danger!” The host spoke about their marriage in a new memo titled “The Answer is … Reflections on My Life,” which is now available. In the book, the 80-year-old described how the 56-year-old has been his rock during his diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“She kept me alive,” the host told People magazine on Wednesday. “If it wasn’t for Jean, I would have gotten out of this a long time ago.”
Trebek first met Jean through a mutual friend in 1988 when he was 47 years old. At the time, Trebek had been hosting “Danger!” for just four years. According to the media, he was newly single after divorcing his first wife, businesswoman Elaine Callei. As for Jean, who was 23 at the time, she was doing part-time accounting for one of Trebek’s friends.
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Alex Trebek revealed that his wife, Jean Currivan, has been the best support he has had during his battle with cancer.
(Photo by Michael Kovac / Getty Images for AFI)
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“With Jean, it just happened,” Trebek wrote in his book, People reported. “Sometimes you look at something, you look at someone and you know it. I mean, you’ve heard stories of people meeting and deciding in half an hour; I knew this would be the person I would end up with.
“With Jeanie, that’s how it was,” he continued. “I wasn’t looking for love. But I instinctively recognized that there was someone who was going to complete me as a human being. “
In 1990 Trebek admitted that his 24-year age difference initially worried him.
“It worried me at first,” he said. “But then I thought, ‘To hell with that. We will make it work. ‘”
In his book, Trebek recalled meeting Jean’s father for the first time, a man who was only two years older than him.
“He ran a private investigation company in New York, and had organized a boat to house some family and friends at an engagement party,” he wrote. “When Jeanie introduced me to him, he looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think I’ll call you’ son. ‘”
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Alex Trebek and Jean Currivan Trebek attend the 47th. AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Denzel Washington at Dolby Theater on June 06, 2019, in Hollywood, California.
((Photo by Michael Kovac / Getty Images for AFI))
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Trebek and Jean were married in 1990.
“When the minister said, ‘Alex, do you take Jean as your wife?'” He wrote. “I said, ‘The answer is … Yes.’ Leave it to me, always trying to go laugh. And I have one. Everyone laughed out loud.”
Three weeks after they were married, the couple learned that Jean was pregnant with their son Matthew, now 29. Trebek and Jean then welcomed a daughter named Emily, now 26, in 1993.
Today Matthew owns a restaurant in New York while Emily works in real estate.
Trebek was diagnosed with cancer in March 2019. Despite the devastating news, the couple’s love has endured. The media noted that they had just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.
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“I have [a] Framed image, “Trebek wrote.” Jeanie gave it to me. It’s a line from our favorite movie, ‘Wuthering Heights.’ ‘What our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same.’ That’s the way I see. our relationship. We are one soul in two bodies. “
