“THAT’S IT, ALEX! It’s time for you to retire!” “Jeopardy!” host ALEX TREBEK’s wife JEAN her foot down after the dapper daytime TV legend suffered a mild heart attack on June 23, sources say.
“Alex was getting ready to attend the Daytime Emmy Awards when he started to feel a tingling in his arm and tightness in his chest,” a source close to Trebek, 71, told The ENQUIRER.
“He said he wanted to rest a few moments and that he’d be fine, but the pain persisted.”
That’s when his wife stepped in. “Jean realized Alex had a problem and took him to the hospital right away,” Trebek’s ex-wife Elaine Kares told The ENQUIRER.
The beloved game-show host, who’d suffered a heart attack in 2007, was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“He was resting comfortably on Sunday,” said the source. “But he was disappointed at not being able to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award at the show.”
“Jeopardy!” also won an Emmy for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show. Trebek is expected to recover, according to Sony Pictures Television, and be back at work when the new season begins taping in July – and he turns 72!
But not if his wife Jean, 47, has anything to say about it, according to sources. “Jean believes that this is a wake-up call, telling Alex to slow down and take it easy,” said the source. His wife of 22 years is also pushing him to watch his diet, added another insider.
“Alex loves greasy fried stuff and Chinese food which is full of fattening oils,” said the insider. “While he’s not eating as much of those foods as he used to, with his previous heart problems Jean had been pushing Alex to avoid them all.”
In May, Trebek – who snapped an Achilles tendon last year while chasing a woman who burglarized his hotel room – admitted that he was considering retiring but wanted to stick it out for two more years so he’d have a 30-year run as “Jeopardy!” host.
But the source said: “If Alex’s wife has anything to say about it, he may be hanging up the cue cards sooner than later!”
