Jay Leno gives a touching speech while presenting women’s rights award named for wife Mavis

Jay Leno in January filed for a since-granted conservatorship over his wife, Mavis, after her advanced dementia diagnosis. “I am part of her legacy and that’s what I’m proudest of,” he said this week at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s 16th Annual Global Women’s Rights Awards Gala. The couple together presented the inaugural Mavis Leno Award for Global Women’s Rights — dedicated to the philanthropist for her Nobel Prize-nominated work as chair of the nonprofit’s Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls. Leno in January filed a since-granted petition to become conservator of his wife’s person — including her medical decisions — after her diagnoses with advanced dementia and a mood disorder. It is unclear when Mavis, 77, was diagnosed, but Jay Leno’s petition said she had been “progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years.” The couple has nonetheless recently made several public appearances, including at the April 30 premiere of the Netflix film “Unfrosted.” At the event, Mavis told “ET,” “I feel great.” During his speech Tuesday, Jay held back tears as he recalled meeting Mavis for the first time.