Divorced Pat Sajak Refused to Wed until He Met Lesly, 19 Years Younger — She Was By His Side When Death Courted Him

Pat Sajak and his wife, Leslie Brown, have been together for 33 years! Despite their significant age difference and the fact that Pat never intended to remarry after his divorce, the two still made things work. Together they also faced tragedy: when Pat was close to death, his beloved wife was next to him.

Pat Sajak is a widely popular TV personality known for hosting the game show “Wheel of Fortune.” Although he frequently appears in front of cameras and live studio audiences, Pat also has a rich life off-screen. He spends most of his time away from the spotlight with his beloved family.

Although Pat is currently happily married, he has faced misfortune before. His first marriage to Sherrill Sajak was off to a great start and lasted for seven years before they decided to call it quits. The two first met in 1978 and tied the knot one year later. Pat and Sherrill never had children together and divorced in 1986.

Although Pat and Sherrill never had any kids of their own, the TV host did adopt Sherrill’s son, whom she shared with another man. Pat moved on after he and Sherrill divorced, starting a new family despite his initial reluctance to tie the knot again. It is unknown whether Sherrill found a new husband or expanded her brood later on.

In fact, when Lesly first broached the topic of finding love again, Pat emphatically refused the idea, exclaiming, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

Pat found his fame while married to Sherrill, making a name for himself as the host of the popular TV game show in 1981, five years before his marriage ended. Before landing the role as a TV host, the celebrity personality dabbled in numerous forms of media, presenting on radio as well as television.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1946, Pat has always had an affinity for entertaining. He started out as a disc jockey, working at a slew of different radio stations and building a reputation for himself. He also landed a job for the US Army, entertaining the troops as a regular DJ. Later, he also starred in “The Pat Sajak Show.”

Pat’s divorce from Sherrill left him with a bad taste in his mouth when it came to the notion of marriage. He entirely disavowed the practice, swearing that he would never marry again in his life. And he stuck with his promise for a while. That said, his vow couldn’t stop him from falling in love again.

After living a blissful and content life with Lesly, Pat’s first serious health scare happened in 2019.

Two years after his divorce, Pat was in a California sports bar when he met the 19-years-younger ex-Playboy model Lesly Brown. Initially, the two had no chemistry. Although they like each other well enough, neither thought the other was remarkable when their paths first crossed at a mutual friend’s get-together.

Pat recalled that his ride home after meeting Lesly was a regular trip, with no mention of Lesly’s name or any romantic ruminations. He had simply met Lesly and gone about his evening. The pair’s relationship was purely platonic. Nonetheless, they enjoyed each other’s company and grew closer over time.

Pat and Lesly started spending more time together, and whenever either of the two traveled, they would keep in touch over the phone. Still, the calls steered clear of the romantic, and Lesly recalled that she would often hang up, saying she had to go on a date. It seemed like Pat didn’t mind the friendly relationship.

The two grew closer and kept talking, and by 1989, it was apparent their relationship had moved beyond purely being friends. The thing was, neither was willing to make the first move, and their bond remained suspended between friendship and something more. Luckily, the perfect solution to their stalemate presented itself.

Before Lesly met Pat, she had appeared on the game show “The Dating Game.” The show worked on the premise that a few ladies compete to win the affection of a male contender. By the time Lesly went to Mexico to pick up her winnings — with the dashing guy who had chosen her by her side — Pat could only look on with jealousy.

The TV show host realized how fond he had become of Lesly after seeing her on the arm of another man. Seeing Lesly leave with her TV show date left Pat more than a little bit surly, and the jealousy set greater things in motion. He realized his feelings toward Lesly were more than merely friendly, and he decided to make a move. He recalled:

“Frankly, I was a little annoyed at [seeing her with another man]. There was definitely borderline jealousy. That was good. I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”

Before the TV show, Pat had no intention of ever marrying again. In fact, when Lesly first broached the topic of finding love again, Pat emphatically refused the idea, exclaiming, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Nonetheless, his reticence waned once he realized his longtime friend and trusted confidante might finally be out of his reach.

After Lesly’s trip, Pat confided in his co-worker, Dan Miller. Dan was entirely caught off-guard, not expecting his outspokenly single friend to have such a change of heart. But Pat was sure about his feelings by then and set his mind on proposing to Lesly. By Labor Day of the same year, he took the plunge.

A mere four months after he initially proposed, with an impressive three-carat-plus diamond ring no less, Pat and Lesly were standing in front of each other in a 19th-century Catholic church, ready to say their vows. With Dan as his bests man and a 21-piece orchestra playing “Greensleeves,” Pat finally gave love another go.

The ceremony was traditional, and Pat recalled how the priest lauded a silent wife who keeps a clean house. Lesly poked fun at the notion afterward, and Pat laughingly remembered, “Lesly swore to keep quiet and clean the toilet every day.” The marriage was a great success, and the couple went on to have two children.

Pat and Lesly had one son and one daughter together. Their oldest, Patrick Michael James Sajak, 30, has appeared alongside his father of “Wheel of Fortune” as a child. His sister, Margaret Sajak, 26, also made a few cameos as a kid but also made more serious appearances as she grew older.

“I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, I remember thinking, ‘This must be death.'”

Margaret makes a living as a country singer and a songwriter, while her brother became a doctor in 2021. Besides building successful careers for themselves, the two Sajak siblings are also spending as much time as possible with their aging father. Pat has confessed on numerous occasions that his health has taken a few dips over the years.

After living a blissful and content life with Lesly, Pat’s first serious health scare happened in 2019. After recovering from emergency surgery, with his co-worker Vanna White taking over while he recuperated, Pat opened up about what happened to him one fateful morning as he went out for a walk.

Like almost every other morning, Pat and his daughter got up early and went for a refreshing walk together. With a healthy headstart on their daily fitness, they got home and went about their regular morning routines. As Pat was getting ready to go to the “Wheel of Fortune” set, he was overcome with a terrible pain in his stomach.

The TV host keeled over in pain, curling up into the fetal position without knowing what was going on. Two and a half hours later, the TV personality was rushed to emergency surgery. He confessed that the pain was “excruciating” and recalled that his wife and daughter didn’t know whether he was coming out of the surgery alive.

As he lay in agony, waiting for his blood pressure to rise enough for the doctors to perform the necessary surgery, nurses gave Pat a range of pain medications, but none were working. When they happened upon one that did have an effect, the TV personality recalled having what he believed to be a near-death experience.

The TV presenter recalled that the entire room transformed into pastel shades in front of his eyes, and he could hear Lesly and Margaret talking in the background. He recalled that they sounded far away while they were standing by his side. With all of this happening, Pat had a sense that he was experiencing death’s first touch.

The TV host confessed, “I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, I remember thinking, ‘This must be death. This must be what death is like.’ And all I thought was, hearing their voices, all I thought was, ‘Boy, their lives are gonna change now,’ and I felt badly for them. I didn’t feel badly about dying.”

In lieu of the usual presenter of “Wheel of Fortune,” Vanna took over. Since she was hosting, the spot for letter-turner needed a replacement, so Margaret stepped in to keep her dad’s show going while the TV host recovered from surgery. Pat’s daughter opened up about the experience, enthusing:

“It was a difficult time for all of us when my father had his surgery, but I was so happy to help out on the show. Vanna was very generous with her time and gave me a lot of pointers, and the staff and crew couldn’t have been more helpful or supportive.”

Although she enjoyed her time helping out on the show, Margaret was glad to see her dad getting back on his feet and reclaiming his rightful spot as the face of “Wheel of Fortune.” Following his health scare, the presenter mused on how long he would stay in the business, saying he’d rather leave too early than too late.

Luckily, the surgery went by without a hitch, and Pat felt like his old self in no time. He got back in the saddle of hosting his iconic game show and was glad he walked out of the operation alive. He revealed the cause of the pain was an intestinal blockage, most likely due to a segment of his intestine wrapping around itself.

These days, the TV personality still hosts “Wheel of Fortune,” but he also spends much of his time with his family in their home in Severna Park, Maryland. The Sajaks also have a home in Los Angeles, which allows Pat to travel to the “Wheel of Fortune” set with ease, although they spend most of their time in Maryland.

As an aging father, Pat tries to spend as much quality time with his kids as possible. The TV host has been seen on numerous occasions enjoying a night out with his family. They seem to be fond of baseball, and Margaret has featured in a few of her dad’s light-hearted holiday videos that he posts on social media.

In one playful video, Margaret and Pat could be seen lounging around on holiday. In the video, the two share a drink at a wooden table, and Pat jokingly gushes about how much he misses Vanna, his co-worker. Just as he elaborates on how good she is at her job, Vanna steps into the shot, quietly telling Margaret not to say anything to Pat.

Vanna then sneakily disappears off-screen again, and Margaret just rolls with it. She captioned the post, “Your secret’s safe with me @officialvannawhite🤫.” Pat is also active on Twitter, where he jokingly complained about aging and the toll it takes on your body. He wrote:

“Well, it happened again this morning. I stepped out of the shower and caught my wife dressing me with her eyes.”

Since his divorce from Sherrill, Pat and his wife, Lesly, have been happily married for more than three decades now, and the TV host hasn’t regretted a day. The presenter spoke candidly about his marriage, saying, “We are already doing the thing where you start a sentence and the other person finishes it for you.”