Alex Trebek was 'ready to pack it in' during cancer battle. He opens up in new memoir
LOS ANGELES - In a public address to "Jeopardy!" viewers last week, Alex Trebek assured fans that he was fine. "Feeling great," in fact. The treatment for Stage IV pancreatic cancer was "paying off," he said, and his numbers were good. Wearing one of his well-pressed blazers, his voice steady as ever, he playfully showed off the goatee he'd grown since the pandemic halted production in March.
But in private, Trebek - who turned 80 on Wednesday - has struggled. He admits he had moments of "complete discouragement" when he felt "ready to pack it in," times when he thought about taking his own his life. And that bothers him. It's not that he's ashamed that suicidal thoughts have crossed his mind. He just doesn't want to be perceived as a disappointment.
"You can't be telling people 'Keep your chin up, fight on!' and then all of a sudden you counter that by: 'What happened to Trebek?' 'Oh, he killed himself. He just got too discouraged,'" the quiz show host says in an interview from his office. "'Well, hell, he was telling us to be positive. And then he did this negative thing.' So, yeah. That's the responsibility that has bothered me."
Trebek's new memoir, "The Answer Is ... Reflections on My Life," is dedicated to
