- Alex Trebek died on November 8 at age 80.
- The late Jeopardy! game show host praised his wife, Jean Currivan Trebek, in a March 2020 video about his battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, saying he fought every day for his soul mate.
- The couple married in 1990 after meeting two years earlier and share two children together, in addition to Trebek's adopted daughter Nicky. Here's a look back on their relationship.
As Jeopardy! host since 1984, Alex Trebek was a pillar in the pantheon of American game show icons. His professional-yet-warmhearted manner made him a beloved personality, who'd become so familiar on our TV screens after more than 35 years that it almost felt like we knew him. When the cameras were rolling, Trebek made it seem like he could read off clues and announce Daily Doubles in his sleep—but in March 2019, he revealed that he'd been living with a stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis offscreen. On November 8, 2020, Trebek died at age 80.
The day after Trebek's passing, Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards told the Today Show's Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb that he'd gotten to spend his last day with the love of his life, wife Jean Trebek. "He had a swing in his backyard he loved, he actually rebuilt it earlier this year," Richards said, adding that Trebek was notoriously handy.
"Even in his book, he described that he wanted his final day to be sitting on the swing next to his wife Jean, kind of watching the horizon," Richards continued. "And he got to do that. He was coherent, he wasn't in pain, and the fact that he had a nice final day makes all of us in the Jeopardy! family feel that much better."
In a March 2020 video update on his journey, Trebek had shared that "there were some good days, but a lot of not so good days.” He went on to say that his spouse had inspired him to keep going when he felt like he almost couldn't. “Because that would have a massive betrayal—a betrayal of my wife and soul mate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive.”
On November 11, Trebek's widow, Jean Trebek, shared a sweet photo from their wedding, and a message for his many fans. "My family and I sincerely thank you all for your compassionate messages and generosity," she wrote in her Instagram caption. "Your expressions have truly touched our hearts. Thank you so very, very much."
Jean is a professional Reiki healer and native New Yorker, who Alex met in 1988 and married two years later. His only regret? Not meeting her sooner. Here's the couple’s longtime love story.
Alex Trebek met Jean—a sound healer and reiki master—at a party in 1988.
According to Newsweek, the pair met at a party in NYC and got along right off the bat.
He later invited her to his home for a first-date dinner. The nerves were real. “I was afraid I’d mispronounce my own name! But Alex is really down to earth. He’s much more casual than he is on the show,” she told People.
![Opening of "Jackie Mason - Brand New"](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/throwback-1583444872.jpg?resize=980:* "Opening of "Jackie Mason - Brand New"")
Alex proposed to Jean on her 26th birthday, with a sapphire ring.
In September 1989, Alex gave his girlfriend a birthday present: black velvet pants and a bolero jacket.
“I thought that was it,” she said. “Then he said, ‘Here’s a little something else,’ and he took out this little wicker box.” Inside, according to People: a 16-carat sapphire surrounded by diamonds. “It took my breath away. I mean, it was a rock.” Needless to say, she said yes.
They married in April 1990.
Per People magazine, Jean said she and Alex remained just friends for a while after they met given their age difference, as she was more than two decades younger than him. “There was just this deep sensitivity about him with a gruffy exterior,” she said. “I kept thinking, he’s 24 years older than me…but there was something that just kept drawing me to him.”
Eventually, that something would draw her all the way down the aisle, as the two married in April 1990 in front of 150 guests at L.A.’s Regency Club. Three weeks later, she was pregnant.
They have two children together.
Though previously married, Alex didn’t have his own children—Matthew Trebek, 30, a Manhattan restaurateur, and Emily Trebek, 27, a Los Angeles realtor—until marrying Jean. He did, however, adopt his ex-wife Elaine Callei Trebek’s daughter, Nicky Trebek, while they were together.
Jean and Alex described themselves as homebodies who loved watching movies in bed.
“I was never into going out to clubs. It wasn’t my scene,” Alex told People. A fellow homebody, Jean said she loved watching movies after dinner with her husband in bed. Alex also mentioned that he liked to “tinker” around the house, taking things apart and putting them back together. We can all learn a lesson from Alex here, if it ain’t broke, take it apart, put it back together, then go watch a movie with the love of your life.
Jean used her sound healing to help comfort Alex.
In an interview with SurvivorNet in November 2019, Jean shared details of how her profession helped herself and Alex remain uplifted during his cancer treatments, saying that “the universe will always respond” when you ask it for help. "It comes from a place of love, because I want to uplift him...and when I keep my own self buoyed and enjoying my life, I can actually share that with him. He can look at me and have a sense of ‘life is beautiful, my wife is doing something good,’” she continued.
She’d asked him to take a break from Jeopardy!
In a January 2020 interview with Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan, Jean confessed that she had asked Alex to take a break from hosting the game show. “But I know it’s what feeds him. He loves doing Jeopardy! He has his own family over there. They are such a close-knit, beautiful group of people. I think that gives him a lot of support. A sense of purpose and that he’s just not in bed and can be productive,” she said.
“It’s always tough for the caretakers because she has to deal with her worrying for my wellbeing and also dealing with…I’m not always the most pleasant person to be around when I am experiencing severe pain and depression, and she has to tread lightly around me,” Alex said.
Looking to the end of his career as Jeopardy! host, he told Newsweek, “and I will say my goodbyes and I will tell people, ‘Don’t ask me who’s going to replace me because I have no say whatsoever. But I’m sure that if you give them the same love and attention and respect that you have shown me, then they will be a success and the show will continue being a success. And until we meet again, God bless you and goodbye.’”
Alex wished he’d met Jean sooner in life.
When speaking with People magazine around the time of his 2019 diagnosis, the game show host got candid about life with his wife. “I’m pretty satisfied with my life,” he said then, admitting that he did have one regret. “But my wife Jean and I have been together almost 29 years, and I was thinking about President Bush when he died, and all the comments about his life about what a nice guy he is, and how he and his wife had been together 73 years. I thought, Oh my gosh… if I’d just met Jean in my 20s we could have had a longer life together.”
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DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
