LOS ANGELES — In a public tackle to “Jeopardy!” viewers final week, Alex Trebek guaranteed followers that he was once fine. “Feeling great,” in fact. The remedy for Stage IV pancreatic most cancers was once “paying off,” he said, and his numbers had been good. Wearing one of his well-pressed blazers, his voice regular as ever, he playfully confirmed off the goatee he had grown on account that the pandemic halted manufacturing in March.
However,
in private, Trebek — who lately grew to become eighty — has struggled.
He admits he had moments of “complete discouragement” when he felt
“ready to pack it in,” instances when he notion about taking his personal his
life. In addition, that bothers him. It is now not that he is ashamed that
suicidal ideas have crossed his mind. He simply does not favor to be, perceived
as a disappointment.
“You
can’t be telling human beings ‘Keep your chin up, battle on!’ and
then all of a unexpected you counter that by: ‘What befell to Trebek?’ ‘Oh,
he killed himself. He simply received too discouraged,’” the quiz exhibit host
stated in an interview from his office. “‘Well, hell, he was once
telling us to be positive. And then he did this terrible
thing.’ So, yeah. That’s the accountability that has stricken me.”
Trebek’s
new memoir, “The Answer is … Reflections on
My Life,” is devoted to “those who are hoping to turn out to
be survivors.” However, as he displays in the e book —, which used to be posted
Tuesday — the burden of serving as a beacon of hope has weighed on
him. When he started out chemotherapy, he commenced having crying
spurts unexpectedly. He was once afflicted with the aid of this and confided in
his oncologist about the tears. The physician
counseled Trebek that they have been possibly a facet impact
of his treatment.
“He
informed me now not to experience embarrassed, however I said,
‘I do experience a little embarrassed. I sense like a way. It is now not that
people should not cry. It’s that, my God, Alex, get yourself
together, here,’” Trebek recalled. Just the day before, he
says, he commenced getting “very emotional for no cause that I
can assume of” whilst his son, Matthew, used to be getting ready
dinner. Noticing his father has upset; the 30-year-old stopped
cooking and got here over to the kitchen desk to pat
his dad’s back.
“And
then, the second used to be gone. Thank God these matters do
not remaining long. I comprehend that now, so it doesn’t scare me
as a good deal as it used to.”
Trebek
determined he would not write a soup-to-nuts autobiography. He describes it to
readers as “a collection of speedy look-ins” that contact on
the highlights of his life, which include his early career,
his favored “Jeopardy!” contestants and his 30-year
marriage to 2d spouse Jean.
Trebek’s impartiality has
grown to be a cornerstone of his reputation. He made an aware
choice to hold his political views personal so
as now not to “offend an essential section of our audience.” Born a Canadian,
Trebek grew to become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998 and
writes that he has because voted for each Republicans and Democrats.
He
is additionally a rule-follower when it comes to socializing
with “Jeopardy!” contestants. Trebek interacts with gamers
solely in the course of industrial breaks, now not simply due
to the fact of time barriers — he movies 5 indicates a day, twice a week
— however additionally due to the fact he doesn’t prefer to
create an influence of impropriety.
Trebek is nicely conscious of what he has come to
signify to viewers over his 36 years as the
host of “Jeopardy!” He’s the dependable discern you can be
counted on to show up on your TV every weeknight, “not so a whole lot as a
showbiz character however as an uncle,” he writes.
He leans into this persona in
the book, providing up healthy tidbits about how he is
happiest sitting on the swing in his outside or ingesting fried poultry and
broccoli for dinner. He does not drink alcohol, retailer for the occasional glass
of chardonnay, alternatively preferring a tall glass of 1% milk in
the center of the night. He arrives everywhere 10 minutes early.
In addition, he loves a routine,
constantly arriving at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City on
tape days at 6 a.m. This offers him time to consume his each day Kit Kat and
Diet Pepsi whilst spending an hour and a half of studying via the day’s 305
clues. Then he reads the Los Angeles Times and tries to whole
the crossword puzzle.
“I suppose after 36 years, humans
have come to recognize who I am and what I represent,” he
said.
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