Former late-night TV host Jay Leno said he doesn’t let two recent horrific accidents upset him — because number one, they are accidents and number two, he feels he’s been “extremely lucky” in his life.
The 73-year-old comedian said he’s got a lot to be “grateful” for after first surviving suffering third-degree burns to his hands and face that landed him in the hospital and two months later a motorcycle crash where he broke multiple bones, Fox News reported.
“First of all they’re accidents. If they were deliberate, I would be complaining,” Leno said, before joking, “Ya, the guy deliberately set me on fire.”
“Look, I’ve been extremely lucky in my life, you know, and even though the accidents weren’t fun, I was still pretty lucky,” he added. “I didn’t lose an eye, I’m not horribly disfigured … well, just regular disfigured.”
FUELED WITH HAPPINESS: Jay Leno is not complaining months after suffering third-degree burns to his face in a gasoline fire. https://t.co/kipAJQS7p6 pic.twitter.com/DG8Xb1HmPh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 21, 2023
“I’ve got a lot to be grateful for,” Leno continued. “First of all, in Hollywood – it’s only how you look, nobody cares how you feel like. I mean I still have a broken collar bone, two broken ribs and two cracked knee caps, but I’m getting around.”
In November 2022, the comedian was working to repair a fuel line on his Steam Car when a leak caused gasoline to spray over his hands and face. A spark then caused an explosion, which ignited the gas.
Leno underwent a series of treatments, including grafting procedures on both his hands and face. He credited his close friend with saving his life after his quick thinking resulted in putting out the flames that could have otherwise possibly led to his death.
Leno landed in the hospital again in January, this time after getting in an accident on one of his vintage motorcycles and breaking multiple bones.
He later cracked a joke about crashing his bike, connecting it to headlines about Marvel star Jeremy Renner’s near-fatal snow plow accident earlier that month.
“I was riding my motorcycle up in Lake Tahoe and I came around the corner and bam, I crashed into Jeremy Renner’s snowplow,” the TV host tweeted.
Related: Jay Leno’s ‘Garage’ Reality Show On Chopping Block At CNBC After 8 Years: Report