Pat Sajak And His Wife Lesly Brown Have A Bigger Age Gap Than We Thought
With his retirement looming, "Wheel of Fortune" legend Pat Sajak is about to spend a whole lot more time with his wife of more than three decades, Lesly Brown. But what exactly do we know about her age?
While the woman most picture next to Sajak is typically his longtime co-star, Vanna White, it's Brown who has had his heart for the last 30-something years. Granted, as the game show host himself joked to People on their wedding day — New Year's Eve 1989 — when they first met, they were just friends. And not friends with deep-down feelings, either. "There was no electricity in the air," he said of their meeting the year prior. Evidently, the feeling was mutual. In her own recollection, Brown shared, "He was fun and easy to talk to ... but it wasn't romantic." Thankfully for the now-couple, life is indeed a wheel of fortune, and soon enough, things changed. After Brown's stint on "The Dating Game" saw her jet off to Mexico with the winner, Sajak realized he did have feelings for his friend, after all. Once again, the feeling was mutual.
Just months after realizing they were in love, Sajak and Brown were married, and they've been together ever since. And, in doing so, they beat the odds: According to Market Watch, divorce rates for couples with an age gap of 10 years or more are a whopping 39%. So — just how big is their age gap?
Lesly is almost 20 years younger than Pat
When Lesly Brown wed Pat Sajak back in 1989, she was 24 and he 43. Don't strain yourself — we've got this. These lovebirds have a 19-year age gap. However, if "Age is just a number" was a couple, it would be these two because it seems never to have been a factor for them — or their families, for that matter.
Speaking to People about his daughter's marriage to Sajak, Lesly's father, Michael Brown, simply joked that he couldn't be happier to have a son, at long last. "I gave him a little car for Christmas and next year I am going to give him an electric train," he quipped. As for the couple themselves, they didn't address their age gap with the outlet — and more than 30 years on, they still haven't said anything about it.
Another person who's never weighed in on the age difference? Pat's adopted son from his first marriage to Sherrill Sajak. Though People didn't mention if he was present for the nuptials or if Pat and his unnamed son had stayed in touch after the divorce, they did mention that he was 22 at the time — just two years younger than the bride.
...but Pat has poked fun at his own age
Pat Sajak might not speak about his age difference with Lesly Brown, but that's not to say he doesn't joke about his own advancing age from time to time.
In September 2022, ahead of his 40-year anniversary on "Wheel of Fortune," the septuagenarian joked to Entertainment Tonight, "It appears I may go before the show." That said, in another interview with the outlet, he also hinted at an impending retirement — joking that his vanity had something to do with it. "I'd like to leave before people tune in and look at me and say, 'Ooh, what happened to him?'" he said. It wasn't the first time he'd poked fun at his age either — and while he didn't mention Brown's age, a 2021 tweet is probably as close to acknowledging the gap as we'll get. "Well, it happened again this morning. I stepped out of the shower and caught my wife dressing me with her eyes," he wrote.
Since announcing his retirement from the show, Hillsdale College has confirmed to USA Today that he'll stay on as their board of trustees chairman, so the longtime game show host will be keeping busy. However, something tells us he's looking forward to spending a little more time with his wife — and keeping her laughing as he does.