Back in 1990, Jean Currivan and Alex Trebek became husband and wife, remaining together until Trebek’s passing in 2020 from pancreatic cancer. Trebek shared his diagnosis in 2019, and it was then that Jean saw the amount of love felt for the normally private host.
Indeed, husband and wife have been described as tending to keep to themselves. Throughout their thirty years of marriage, Jean saw Trebek first and foremost as a loving husband, and the outpouring of support showed how big of an icon the Jeopardy! host became.
The Trebek couple did not linger in the public eye
The widow of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, Jean Currivan Trebek, spoke with The Eden Magazine for its October issue. “Alex was my dear husband and my most beloved friends,” she outlined. “Like most long-term relationships, we had our ups and downs, but the truth of it was that we were very close and experienced a lot of life together.”
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She delved further into their private life – and the private nature Trebek preferred to preserve. “It was important to Alex to keep his personal life separate from his professional life, unless it was ‘needed,’” she went on. Exceptions came from award shows or big public events such as that. Otherwise, “Alex and I enjoyed staying at home. When we did go out, it was perhaps for a quick dinner or movie every now and then, so it wasn’t like we were always out in public for me to really notice his popularity.”
Jean Currivan Trebek saw what an icon the world saw her husband as
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While Jeopardy! viewers would hear An icon? and respond Who is Alex Trebek, his wife Jean always saw him as her husband, an opportunity she calls a “gift.” Because of this, she noted, “We were equal partners in a marriage, and we had our own personal growth issues to deal with just like any ordinary couple. It would have been really weird for both Alex and myself if I thought of him as some celebrity,” she added, noting that it was to both their benefits that home and marriage provided total normalcy. “He could just be himself at home, and that was it.”
Finally, she referenced the recent passing of Prince Philip, and Queen Elizabeth’s words, “Grief is the price you pay for having loved.” Indeed, Jean does not just miss a popular show host; she grieves for her husband. She admitted, “There are moments of my day that I miss Alex so much, and I just have to allow myself those times. Sometimes I feel as if he’s been on a long vacation, and then there are other times that the reality of the absence of his presence is really palatable. I find that being with my family and friends or doing something creative and new is really helpful.”
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