Jay Leno simply went to the restroom after catching fire while working on a classic car.
The former late night host told Hoda Kotb on TODAY this week about the incident, which occurred while he was working on a vintage 1907 White Steam car with a friend when the pilot light caught fire.
Leno’s friend, Dave Killackey, was working on the car with him and helped put the flames out when Leno caught fire. 911 was called but Leno decided to go home after heading to the restroom and splashing cold water on his face.
“I drove right home,” he said in the interview.
“My wife doesn’t drive anymore and I didn’t want her stuck and not knowing what was going on,” Leno continued. “It just seemed like the right thing to do and I think it was.”
Kotb then asked if his love for his wife outweighed his concern for his own well being.
“Well, I think there’s something to that,” he answered.
Leno eventually spent nine days at the Grossman Burn Center in California. The burns were so intense he was spending eight hours a day inside a hyperbaric chamber as part of his recovery, according to TODAY.
The comedian said a large part of recovery is also humor.
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“In the real world, this happens to people every single day. If you work with your hands, people work with their hands, get injured every single day. And I don’t want to be some whiny celebrity, ‘Boo hoo is me,’” he joked.
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