Jay Leno’s Dating History Is Straight Out of ‘The Twilight Zone’

As a general rule, we try not to think too much — or for that matter at all — about Jay Leno’s sex life. But it’s even weirder than we thought. And we’re not even talking about the long-time Tonight Show host’s specific carnal preferences that Sandra Bernhard once revealed to Howard Stern, and unfortunately, America. No, this is something far more paranormal.

Over on Twitter/X, user @HarryHew recently shared an excerpt from a 2014 Los Angeles Times interview with Leno and his wife Mavis, in which Leno discussed his romantic history. One part in particular deserved to be clipped out and pasted directly into an X-Files script. 

The comedian and amateur daredevil claimed that he has lived with five women throughout the course of his life, and every single one of them, including Mavis, was born on September 5th. “I just wind up attracted to them,” Leno boasted. According to Mavis, the couple first met when Jay spotted her in the audience of a stand-up show. Immediately, Leno asked her, “Were you born on or around September 5th?” When she told him that she was born on the fifth, he “started laughing” but wouldn’t explain why.

Leno doesn’t just think that this is some sort of amusing coincidence, he seems to genuinely believe that he has some kind of metaphysical ability to detect a woman’s birth date using only his libido. Case in point: Leno also recounted the time that Cathy Guisewite, the creator of the comic strip Cathy, was a guest on The Tonight Show. In an unprofessional aside, he told her, “I’m happily married. (So) don’t take this wrong, (but) I am attracted to you but in an odd way. Were you born on or around September 5th?” Sure enough, Guisewite responded that she, too, was born on the fifth of September, presumably before immediately calling her agent and asking them to book her on Letterman only from that point forward. 

From all accounts, Leno hasn’t really questioned his oddly specific superpower. When describing the September 5th phenomenon to writer Bill Zehme, he admitted, “I’m one of those people who accept things exactly as they appear to be.” 

After all, a skeptical mind might question how many women Leno approached with his go-to pick-up line that didn’t turn out to have a September 5th birthday. Or ask why horoscopes don’t give all Virgos in Southern California a heads-up that they might get hit on by TV’s Jay Leno. And if that particular birthday is really what fuels Leno’s sex drive, does that mean that he also finds September 5th birthday boy Bob Newhart sexy? Or how about Michael Keaton? And why has he never put the moves on Werner Herzog? 

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time you’re reading this).