Alex Trebek’s widow, Jean Trebek, is still navigating her feelings of loss after the death of the iconic “Jeopardy!” host.
“I absolutely have moments of waves of grief that just come over me,” the businesswoman told the “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday during her first interview since Alex’s death in November. “I miss him a lot.”
Jean sat down with the journalist for NBC’s upcoming primetime special “Inspiring America: The 2021 Inspiration List” and shared that both she and Alex were “surprised” to hear how many lives he had touched.
“I think one of the beautiful things, the blessings that came, if you can call it a blessing, was that he got to really see the outpouring of love and admiration that he gave to the world,” she said. “And some people just, you know, you don’t see that while you’re still embodied, you don’t get to really witness all the love that people feel for you.”
Jean said her late husband’s fans’ admiration was a “huge inspiration for Alex.”
The legendary TV host died at age 80 after a long battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
During one of his final episodes of “Jeopardy!,” a contestant wrote, “We love you, Alex” as his final answer, which caused Alex to choke up.
Jean told Guthrie of the heartfelt moment, “When that contestant wrote that, you know, you could see him, like, ‘Oh, don’t make me cry here, but I love it.’ And I think that meant the world to him.”
Jean and Alex married in 1990 and were together until his death. They shared son Matthew, 30, and daughter Emily, 27.
“Inspiring America: The 2021 Inspiration List” airs on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.