This article was originally published on WHerMoments
Pat Sajak is a household name in the United States and across the world as the host of legendary game show Wheel of Fortune. But did you know he’s been happily married to model and photographer Lesly Brown for more than three decades? When it comes to wedded bliss, Sajak doesn’t play games. And here’s the secret behind their close and long-lasting bond.
A life of spinning and winning
Sajak’s been on hosting duties for the famous Wheel since 1981. And as of 2022, he’s still going strong. Co-starring with him on the show is hostess Vanna White, who joined a year after Sajak signed up.
While many might think they’re an item, or that some romantic entanglement happened in the past, this isn’t the case.
Who Is Pat Sajak’s Wife?
His true partner in life is Lesly Brown. She isn’t a famous personality like Sajak but has been a constant at his side for decades. The pair have been snapped frequently at public events over the years, and it’s clear those smiles of theirs are genuine.
While some may have initially been skeptical about the relationship, due to the 18-year age gap, the chemistry still endures.
Like the old days
One factor behind their long union appears to be a sense of tradition. Sources state they have what might be described as an old-fashioned relationship. Sajak’s the man of the house, who goes out and earns a crust.
Well, actually it’s a little more than a crust! Brown has a successful career of her own yet reportedly does the household chores.
Times and places
The couple live in both Maryland and California. Sajak needs to be in the Golden State for work, whereas Maryland seems to have a special place for Brown.
She studied TV production at the University of Maryland a couple of years before crossing paths with her future husband. Brown also wanted to go to law school before ultimately focusing on motherhood.
Life during wartime
Sajak’s largely defined by his iconic role hosting Wheel of Fortune. But before that he was a host of a different kind, fronting a radio show as part of the U.S. Army.
Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Sajak brought listeners broadcasts over the American Forces Vietnam Network. His predecessor was DJ Adrian Cronauer, whose name might also be familiar.
Sajak’s movie connection
That’s because Cronauer was played by Robin Williams in the movie Good Morning Vietnam. Sajak’s always been the perfect host. That said, there’s more to him than asking questions and keeping the mood light.
He also devises games, writes, and lends his vocal talents to high-profile projects. In 2021, for instance, he voiced a musical bust in Muppets Haunted Mansion.
When Pat met Lesly
So, how did he meet Mrs Right? Well, Sajak was originally married to his now-ex Sherrill between 1979 and 1986. But after seven years of sharing his life with her, he wanted a break and planned some time as a singleton.
Things didn’t go the way he expected, though. Fast-forward a couple of years and he met Lesly at a restaurant owned by a mutual friend.
Slow progress
Did Sajak sweep this younger lady off her feet, then? Yes, apparently! Yet while she was reportedly keen to pursue a relationship, he held back, shy of another serious commitment. Other sources claim that neither made a first move.
What’s clear is that for a period of time they became good friends, though Sajak and Brown reportedly knew things wouldn’t stay that way.
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
It was only a matter of time before matters got serious. The question was: when? Well, it turns out the small screen would play a key role in motivating Sajak.
He may be famous as the host of Wheel of Fortune but when it comes to TV entertainment, it obviously isn’t the only game in town. The Dating Game was another popular program in its day.
The critical date
And before she met Sajak, Brown had won a trip to Mexico after appearing on The Dating Game. She decided to accept the prize — after all, it wasn’t like she had something going with Sajak, right?
Yet the long-established expression “absence makes the heart grow fonder” proved to be more than true in this case, as he realized what he was missing. He had to act fast.
What was he thinking?
Here was a beautiful younger woman, a former Miss Georgetown who’d also posed for Playboy, and he was potentially letting her slip through his fingers. To probably no-one’s surprise, he made a move shortly after she got back.
Even then, though, he bided his time a little, even if it was only a matter of weeks before he popped the question. They wed on New Year’s Eve 1989.
Love comes in all shapes and sizes
Now, this pair were obviously in love but appearances matter for some people. Pat Sajak was in his early 40s and Brown in her early 20s. He wouldn’t have been the first TV star to marry someone considerably younger than himself.
So, did they receive any flak for getting together, despite an age gap that spanned around two decades, give or take?
A Surprising Source of Support
Well, it doesn’t look that way — and a couple of people in particular seemed to take it in their stride. Who are we talking about? Lesly Brown’s parents!
Surprising as it sounds, Mom and Pop Brown took to Pat the way viewers took to his assured hosting of Wheel of Fortune. Could it be that his compelling onscreen personality charmed them into submission?
Screening the son in law
Actually no, that wasn’t the case. Turned out the Brown family home is more of a reading household than a place where the TV blares morning, noon, and night. So Sajak couldn’t rely on his fame to smooth anything over.
They apparently judged him on his character, rather than the image he projects into millions of American homes each week.
On track
Brown’s father even joked about the set-up to the media. “I finally have a boy in the family,” he said. “I gave him a little car for Christmas and next year I am going to give him an electric train.”
Whether Sajak played with his train or not, he’d arguably had a break luckier than any you might get on TV.
Wheel of Misfortune?
Angry stares across the dinner table were avoided, it seems. Which is probably just as well. It hasn’t always been plain sailing for Sajak, of course.
For example, his comments to Vanna White during an April 2022 episode of Wheel of Fortune raised eyebrows and drew criticism. So, just what did he say to rile people up?
Different hymn sheets
Sajak asked if she was an “opera buff”. That’s it? No, the exchange continued. He asked White an unwelcome follow-up question: “Have you ever watched opera in the buff?” Was this a flirtatious remark?
An off the cuff yet totally tone deaf quip? That’s the thing about TV. Once you say it, it’s out there and being talked about.
Hosted and roasted
Safe to say, then, that despite high ratings Sajak isn’t riding high reputation-wise. Regardless, Wheel of Fortune has retained his and White’s services till 2024, so it’ll be interesting to see if these stories keep spinning.
In the meantime, Sajak and Brown’s relationship still appears rock solid. In fact, she’s stood by him in both good times and bad.
Sajak in trouble
A particularly bad experience rocked the family’s world during 2019, when Sajak had a medical emergency. He experienced severe pain that was identified as coming from a blocked intestine. Sajak then went into surgery, where thankfully everything went well.
Still, he did feel something profound while lying in his hospital bed, when his eyes were closed but his ears were open.
Win a trip to the afterlife!
He could hear the voices of Brown and his daughter, country music singer Maggie Marie, though Sajak got the impression he was on his way to the afterlife.
Like everyone in his precarious position, Sajak had been under the influence of prescribed — and rather potent — drugs and wasn’t thinking straight. Yet, as he mentioned to Good Morning America, the sense of his possible demise was powerful.
Sajak between worlds
“I thought, ‘Boy, their lives are gonna change now.’” he said. “And I felt badly for them.” In his eyes, Sajak was about to leave this mortal plane. He added, “I didn’t feel badly about dying.
I felt badly that they were gonna have to deal with the aftermath.” They never had to in the end, of course, thankfully.
Who could replace Sajak?
Sajak resumed his career, though producers needed to work around his absence in the meantime. Vanna White took over hosting duties during this difficult period. So, who’d be hostess to the new host?
Well, it became a family affair, with Maggie Marie stepping in to flip the famous letters. Also, in a bizarre twist, Disney characters occasionally took on the role. Disney characters?
Family fun
This move was due to Wheel of Fortune having Christmas specials that required them, rather than being some strange, arbitrary decision! Of course, Brown’s featured on the show over the years, too. How about her and Pat’s son, Patrick, though?
Well, while Patrick isn’t in showbusiness, he did make a memorable appearance on Wheel of Fortune with Maggie Marie back when they were kids.
In and out of the spotlight
We guess that seeing his father day in day out on national TV proved more than enough for Patrick! Whatever their son’s views, Sajak and Brown clearly have a strong family bond that exists both onscreen and off.
So, in exploring the lives of this enduring couple, what have we learned about their long-running marriage? Quite a lot, it would appear.
The secrets of a happy marriage
Aside from the happy marriage reportedly being a traditional arrangement, it’s also fueled by deeply held feelings and light-hearted but mutual respect. Plus, at the end of the day the two of them kept calm and didn’t rush headlong into anything, it seems.
They were friends who got to know each other first. And Brown elaborated on this when talking to People.
Step by step
“He was fun and easy to talk to,” Brown said. “But it wasn’t romantic.” Typically, a marriage is all romance before the chemistry fizzles out. In this case, though, a platonic interaction gradually gave way to something more passionate.
“I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” Sajak commented. It took The Dating Game to convince him, of course!
Wedded bliss
Having children while managing creative and demanding jobs all became part of the success story. So, Sajak and Brown were friends first, shared the same values and took their responsibilities as spouses and parents seriously.
Their partnership has also survived in spite of Sajak being constantly in the public eye, another important factor to take into account when assessing the relationship.
Beating the odds
A middle-aged game show host and a young graduate may not sound like the stuff of long-lasting contentment. But Pat Sajak and Lesly Brown have certainly made it work.
The road ahead probably looks a little uncertain at present, yet the pair operate from a solid, highly supportive base, so they’ll surely go on doing what they do best, side by side. There was one notable occasion when Sajak had to walk away, though. To set the scene...
Walk-off
Bree Yokouchi had made her way to the bonus round of Wheel of Fortune and was facing the final puzzle. The lights glared down in the studio, and the audience was hushed. Then something unprecedented happened.
For once, the loquacious Sajak was lost for words. He threw down the card he had just opened and marched straight off the stage. The crowd was stunned.
Long-time host
You’d have thought that Sajak had seen it all. After all, he had been the host of Wheel of Fortune for more than four decades. The show that featured Yokouchi was part of its 39th season, which began in September 2021.
When Yokouchi’s show rolled round, Wheel, as it’s often affectionately nicknamed, had already been having an amazing week.
Big solve
It had started when Lisa Kramer had taken out the $100,000 bonus round. Only one other person had managed that feat in the entire season. But the very next day, Mark Baer repeated the dose. That gave Sajak a shock! He shook his head, saying, “Huh, that’s never happened.” The host has seen all sorts of things, but this was unprecedented.
The thing we should note here is that the prize is hidden inside an envelope, so neither Sajak nor Baer knew he was playing for so much money.
“Déjà vu”
Sajak showed his surprise to the viewers when he revealed the prize. Announcer of the show Jim Thornton said, “Mark, it’s like déjà vu; it’s all starting again.”
Sajak laughed and retorted, “You wouldn’t know; I just sold out my entire stock of confetti.” He observed, “Even after almost 40 years, new things are happening here.”
No fixing
Of course, some people suggested that skullduggery had been involved in what had transpired. But Sajak took to Twitter to put those people right, writing, “A quick reminder to conspiracy theorists: thanks to the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, fixing a TV game show is a federal crime.
I really like our players, and I’d like them all to win, but I draw the line at serving prison time.”
No robbing either
The host went on to say, “Anyone silly enough to believe in things like that cannot be convinced of anything. It would be a total waste of time. I love how one day we’re ‘robbing’ players of their winnings, and then we’re ‘allowing’ them to win.”
He noted that some viewers loved the idea of a conspiracy even when there no evidence to support it, adding, “Best to ignore.”
Bree’s up
So the day after Baer, it was the turn of Yokouchi. She’s an accomplished educator, working in an elementary school. Living in Portland, Oregon, she comes originally from the island of Maui, Hawaii.
Not that she’s a stranger to Hawaii these days, regularly returning. Certainly, she was hoping for a few bucks from the show, given that she’s preparing to get married.
Keen to take part
Yokouchi explained how she got onto the show. She said in a statement, “All this started in my dining room with my family every night.”
When a tour bus for the show called looking for people who wanted to take part, she didn’t hesitate to get involved. She explained, “When I heard about the Wheelmobile event in Lincoln City, I thought, ‘This was my chance.’”
Going well
Once on the show, Yokouchi started doing well. She got on the board with “complimentary upgrade” to win $1,000. “Schools of colorful fish” won her a holiday in St. Lucia. And she just kept on winning.
Finally, she guessed “Fill in the blank” to score her place in the bonus round, having already won more than $20,000 in a combination of cash and prizes.
Excitement mounts
So the bonus round rolled round, and as usual the audience was wild. Sajak quipped, “After the last two nights, we had to send out for an emergency shipment from Confetti R Us in order to film.
So we’re back; we’re reloaded; that $100,000 is back out there.” In the spotlight, Yokouchi trembled. Would she be able to guess the last puzzle?
Lucky spin?
Before the teacher could try the puzzle, she had to spin for the bonus.
The night before, Sajak had explained, “There are 24 (spaces), which means you have a 4 percent chance of landing on the $100,000, just over 4 percent and of course the chances are even higher because you have to solve a puzzle.” So she spun it, and Sajak held the closed envelope, waiting to see whether she won.
Bonus battle
The deal with the bonus round is that the contestant picks a category from three choices. Then all the letters E, L, N, R, S, T are shown, and the contestant chooses another vowel and three further consonants.
Yokouchi had the choice of selecting from this trio of topics: a phrase, a thing, or “what are you doing?”
Puzzle revealed
The Oregonian chose “a phrase”, and the blank spaces came into view. Four-three-four, but would the free letters help? Well, maybe. The answer was now --ST --- ---T. The audience was hushed, and you could hear a pin drop. Yokouchi chose D, H, M, A as her letters.
An A turned up in the last word: it looked like a hard one. No one on set or in the audience murmured or moved — there wasn’t so much as a rustle.
Happy holler
But a huge smile was creeping over Yokouchi’s face. She glanced over at Sajak. He said, “This looks troublesome. But I don’t know. With her, who knows? It’s a phrase. You have ten seconds.”
Yokouchi was almost jumping out of her skin, though. This was no problem for her. “Just you wait,” she sang out.
Leaping with joy
“How are you doing it?” asked Sajak as he revealed that the educator had struck gold. To say that Yokouchi was happy is understating it! She started leaping with joy.
The audience flipped out too, loving the winning moment. But the question remained: what exactly had she won? All eyes turned to Sajak.
Teacher’s delight
Sajak went to open the envelope to reveal what Yokouchi had won. Not that she really seemed to care. She was just so delighted to have won at all! The teacher popped up and down like a corn kernel in a hot pan.
The host demanded, “Who’s going to book my trip to Vegas?” and revealed that it was the third $100,000 bonus round in consecutive days!
“I’m outta here”
Yokouchi let loose an almighty shriek. No wonder! What an amazing moment! Confetti fell from the sky, confirming that jokingly prior-mentioned delivery had been needed. Sajak seemed entirely incredulous. He said, “I’m outta here.
That’s it; I’m through.” And off he went! The host just split the scene, vanishing from the stage.
“Heck of a solve”
Now, Sajak did come back! Thankfully, he wrapped up the show, saying, “It’s not just landing on that. That’s amazing enough… But that was a heck of a solve.
Because I looked at you like, you know, this is daunting — and you’re looking at me like, ‘I got this pal, don’t worry.’”
“Stunned”
Later on, Sajak chatted about this amazing moment with his daughter Maggie, who also works for Wheel as a social correspondent. She asked him what he thought of the three-in-a-row shock. He said, “I’m running out of words to describe my reaction.”
And he genuinely was wowed by the whole thing. He gave describing it a go, saying, “Stunned, surprised, I don’t know. It’s all inadequate.”
Four impossible
At this point, one question begs to be asked, and Maggie was certainly willing to put it to him.
She said, “So this leads, dear father, to the following question: could it happen again tomorrow?” Sajak had no doubt. He said, “You mean four in a row, Maggie? That would be ridiculous, virtually impossible.”
Longshot
But Maggie sharply noted, “You mean like three in a row was virtually impossible?” The chances of landing on a particular slice are 23 to 1 — for every $100,000 there are 23 other slices to land on.
Doing it three times in a row is simply 23 x 23 x 23, which works out at 12,167 to 1. That’s a big number, but the show’s been running for more than 40 years! Time enough for a rare lucky streak.
Million winners
But the three who took out $100,000 are not actually the show’s biggest money-winners. No, it’s actually possible to win $1 million. It’s been done three times. Michelle Loewenstein was the first, scoring big in 2008 with the answer “Leaky faucet.”
Sarah Manchester then won her million with the puzzle answer “Loud laughter,” which was also how she responded to the big win.
Biggest scoop
The biggest winner, though, came in 2013, when Autumn Erhard took out a massive $1.03 million. Not bad! She told broadcaster NPR that she’d spent evenings giving the answers to Wheel puzzles from her couch.
The practice clearly helped when it came to the real deal. No one has topped her win since.
Very happy
As for Yokouchi, she was very happy with her $100,000, especially since just taking part in the show was a dream come true.
The lucky winner told the world, “I [was just] excited to be right here this morning. However, to be the third $100,000 winner in a row is simply wonderful!”
No fourth
So… did the $100K go the next night too? Sadly not. Retired nurse Donna Maine battled through to the bonus round, but she wasn’t able to solve it.
Still, she did manage to win prizes to the value of almost $28,000 including holidays in Texas and Curaçao, so we imagine she would also say her time on the game show was a success.