COUPLESAlex Trebek's Wife Jean Shares Sweet Wedding Photo Following His Death
RIP. Alex Trebek's wife, Jean Currivan Trebek, shared a stunning wedding photo of the couple a few days after his untimely death.
Alex passed away on Sunday, November 8, from stage four pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old. The widow shared the vintage snap on Instagram with a note to her followers.
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"My family and I sincerely thank you all for your compassionate messages and generosity," she wrote on Wednesday, November 11. "Your expressions have truly touched our hearts. Thank you so very, very much. Many Blessings to all."
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Fans offered more condolences to Jean in the comments section.
"Alex was like a good friend 5 days/week ... NO ONE can replace him on JEOPARDY! he was truly loved, and will be missed ... may he RIP," one said.
"Many blessings to you and thank you all for the love and sharing parts of Alex with us. Sending all the love back," another wrote.
In the picture, the television host placed a wedding ring on Jean's finger and looked lovingly at his new wife. The couple met in 1988 and wed two years later. Alex was 47 years old at the time and had only been hosting Jeopardy! for four years, while Jean was only 23 years old. They met via a mutual friend who Jean was doing part-time bookkeeping for. The pair had two children together in their 30-year marriage: Matthew, 29, and Emily 27. The Jeopardy! host is also a father to Nicky, 53, from a previous marriage.
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In January, the Alex told PEOPLE that he was "pretty satisfied with my life" amid his cancer battle.
"But my wife Jean and I have been together almost 29 years, and I was thinking about President Bush when he died, and all the comments about his life about what a nice guy he is, and how he and his wife had been together 73 years. I thought, oh my gosh … if I’d just met Jean in my 20s we could have had a longer life together," he said.
"I guess if I’d met her when I was in my 20s she wouldn’t have been born yet. But hey, 29 years is pretty good!" he added.
Alex gushed about his wife in his memoir, The Answer Is...Reflections On My Life, and said, "with Jean it just happened." The book was released this summer.
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"Sometimes you look at something, you look at someone, and you know. I mean, you’ve heard stories of people who meet and decide within half an hour; I knew this was going to be the person I’d end up with. With Jeanie that’s how it was. I wasn’t looking for love. But I recognized at a gut level that here was someone who was going to complete me as a human being," he continued.
In July, he told PEOPLE that she had been his rock since his devastating cancer diagnosis in 2019. "She's kept me alive," he said. "If it weren’t for Jean, I’d have put myself out of this a long time ago."
Alex wrote in his book that he wanted his final day to be sitting on his swing next to his wife and watch the horizon, "and he got to do that,” Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards said on the Today show earlier this week.
We’re thinking of Jean and Alex's family during this difficult time.
