Jay Leno 'Covered in Bruises' After Tumbling Down a Hill
Jay Leno finds himself "black and blue" following a descent down a 60-foot incline en route to dinner. The ex-"Tonight Show" host, now 74, endured substantial facial bruising on the left side during the mishap over the weekend, as he recounted to journalists prior to a Beverly Hills engagement on Monday night. Sporting an eye patch over his left eye, Leno shared with "Inside Edition" that he had been residing at a Hampton Inn roughly 30 miles from Pittsburgh on Saturday evening. The fall occurred while he was heading toward a nearby eatery before a scheduled performance.
Displaying his injuries for the cameras, Leno disclosed that he fractured his wrist, lost a fingernail, and is "all black and blue" on the left side of his body and face. He also lifted his patch to reveal his eye, swollen shut. In a separate conversation that same night with TMZ, Leno mentioned he lacked a vehicle and that the route suggested by the hotel staff would have required a mile-and-a-half walk. Choosing a shortcut, he opted to descend a hill instead.
He recounted to TMZ his initial thought: "The hill doesn’t seem that steep – around 60, 70 feet. Let's see if I can make it down… (he yelps) and then I took a tumble, boom, boom, boom." Despite hitting numerous rocks, his determination saw him perform just three hours later, with hospital treatment only after returning to Los Angeles. "It’s not a major issue, it’s fine," he reassured TMZ.
CNN has reached out to Leno’s team for remarks. This incident comes two years after Leno sustained severe burns to his face and body. Treated at LA’s Grossman Burn Center in November 2022, these injuries stemmed from a fire in his home garage. As a fervent car enthusiast, Leno had been working beneath a vehicle when the accident occurred.
Mere months following that ordeal, he suffered a broken collarbone, two fractured ribs, and cracked kneecaps from a motorcycle crash. When TMZ inquired about his streak of misfortune, Leno quipped: "The beauty of this age is not learning from mistakes – you just repeat the same foolish actions." Leno is scheduled to perform on Wednesday at a charity event benefiting the burns hospital that treated him in 2022.
