Pat Sajak is getting used to life without having to be filming for and appearing on television on a weekly basis.
It has been almost a year since the veteran TV host appeared on his last ever Wheel of Fortune episode as its host, the gig now being occupied by fellow veteran TV personality Ryan Seacrest.
Since then, he has largely laid low save for a few visits to the Wheel of Fortune set — though he’ll be back for a “final spin” on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, which premieres April 30.
Back at home, he gets to enjoy retirement with his wife Lesly Brown, who he has been married to for almost 40 years.
Learn all about her below.
They have been married since 1989
Lesly and Pat met through mutual friends at the grand opening of a friend’s sports bar in California back in the summer of 1988, though they were initially only friends.
Pat hasn’t shied away from admitting that their relationship was purely platonic at first, telling People in 1990 after they eventually tied the knot: “There was no electricity in the air,” and joking: “The subject of [Lesly] didn’t come up in my car ride home.”
Recalling the phone calls they would have, he further shared: “Often the calls were, ‘Well, I have to hang up now. I’m going out on a date,'” though he then added that as some months went by, “it was obvious that there was something more going on.”
© GettyThey have a 19-year age gap
When Lesly — a former model turned photographer with a degree in television production — and Pat eventually tied the knot, on New Year’s Eve of 1989, she was 24, and he was 43.
Still, they have always had the support of their family — and Vanna White! “I finally have a boy in the family,” Lesly’s dad Michael joked to People after their wedding, while her mother Maria confessed: “This might be horrible to say, but we don’t watch TV that often, and that is not going to change even if Pat is our son-in-law. We prefer reading and decorating the house.”
His former co-star Vanna also shared: “Pat and I have such a good relationship on a platonic level. The fact that he got married isn’t going to change that. We will continue to see each other. Lesly can even join us. She isn’t jealous.”
© WireImageShe is his second wife
Prior to meeting and marrying Lesly, Pat was first married to Sherrill Sajak, from 1979 to 1986.
Little is known about their relationship or where she is now, and they never had any children.
© GettyLesly and Pat have two kids
About nine months after their December 31, 1989 nuptials, on September 22, 1990, Lesly and Pat welcomed their first child together, son Patrick Michael James, who in 2021 graduated from medical school.
On January 5, 1995, they welcomed their second child, daughter Maggie, who in 2012 released a country album titled If I Was Gonna Go, however she has since graduated from Princeton University, and is a social media manager for Wheel of Fortune.
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