Jay Leno looks frail and exhausted as he takes vintage 1910 steam car out eight months after serious injury
The 75-year-old former Tonight Show host appeared thinner than he has in recent years, and he looked particularly exhausted when he was seen taking the car out in Burbank, California, where the garage he stores his classic cars in is located.
He was pictured around eight months after he appeared with a shockingly bruised and battered face in November of last year after he reportedly took a tumble down a steep hill near a hotel he was staying at ahead of a comedy show.
Jay was dressed ruggedly in a blue denim Western shirt with snap buttons, and he showed off a mass of impressively thick white hair.
Part of his visibly apparent strain may have been due to the steam car failing to run as desired.
Although he was able to drive the 115-year-old car for a bit, it wasn't long before observers spotted it breaking down.
Jay was surrounded by some of his employees as they tried to figure out what was wrong and get the car back into working condition.
However, the classic car apparently required a more sophisticated intervention than they could offer on the street, so he eventually had to call a tow truck to take the steam car back to his garage.
Leno appeared to have completely healed from his latest injury, which he sustained after taking a 60ft fall near a Hampton Inn in Greenhouse, Pennsylvania.
He said he had been trying to visit a nearby restaurant ahead of a show he was scheduled to perform that evening when he tried to take a shortcut.
'To get to [the restaurant], I didn't have a car, so you had to walk about a mile and a half around,' he explained.
'I said, "Well, the hill doesn't look that steep. It's about 60–70 feet. Let me see if I can go down the hill,"' he continued.
But Leno lost his footing due to the steep slope and uneven terrain, and he crashed down to the bottom of the hill.
'Boom, boom, boom. I rolled down the hill, hit my head on a rock, knocked me in the eye,' Leno added of the incident.
Some fans didn't buy the explanation and took to social media to theorize about his injuries.
Some posters joked that he was in debt to mobsters who had roughed him up over gambling losses.
Fueling the conspiracy theories and jokes was a previous injury Leno sustained in 2023.
That summer he broke both of his kneecaps in what he later said was a motorcycle crash.
The accident-prone comic's injuries followed a 2022 incident in which he suffered serious burns to his face.
He had been working on an old steam-powered car that used gasoline to heat water, turning it into steam that could in turn move the pistons, though it appears that the car he drove on Monday was a slightly more recent steam car, rather than the 1907 White Model G that he reportedly had been tinkering with at the time.
That car reportedly burst into flames without explanation while he was working on it, and Leno was sprayed on the face with the burning gasoline.
Firefighters were promptly called to the garage to put out the blaze, and Leno was taken to a hospital, but his injuries were not said to be life threatening.
Earlier this year, Leno gave a personal update on a difficult family situation after he became his wife Mavis' caretaker after she was diagnosed with 'advanced' dementia.
Jay got candid about the topic during an interview on In Depth With Graham Bensinger in April.
A year earlier, the star was granted conservatorship of his 78-year-old after a court filing revealed that she 'sometimes does not' recognize him and does not remember her own birth date.
At one point, Leno was asked what he has learned most about himself while being by his wife's side amid her heartbreaking health battle.
'Well, I have never been particularly challenged. I was not in the army, I didn't have to shoot anybody. I didn't have to risk my life,' he admitted.
'When I got married, you sort of take a vow — "Will I live up to this? Or will I be like a sleazy guy if something happens to my wife, I'm out banging the cashier at the mini mart?" No, I didn't,' Leno said.
The TV personality added, 'I enjoy the time with my wife. I go home, I cook dinner for her, watch TV and it's OK. It's OK.
'It's basically what we did before, except now I have to feed her and do all those things.'
Jay explained to the host, 'But I like it. I like taking care of her. I think, you know, somewhere in my life — she's a very independent woman, so I like that I'm needed. You know, and I need to be there. And it's good.'
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