Jean Trebek posts touching wedding day photo after husband's death
LOS ANGELES -- The wife of longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek is speaking out publically for the first time since her husband's death.
Jean Trebek took to Instagram Wednesday and posted an intimate 1990 photo that shows Alex Trebek slipping a wedding band on her finger. The couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on April 30 and have two children together, Emily and Matthew.
"My family and I sincerely thank you all for your compassionate messages and generosity. Your expressions have truly touched our hearts. Thank you so very, very much," the caption read.
The 80-year-old Trebek died Sunday after his open and public battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Trebek presided over the beloved quiz show for more than 30 years. He was a master of the format, engaging in friendly banter with contestants and appearing genuinely pleased when they answered correctly.
Jean and Alex sat down for an interview with "Good Morning America" in January, where Jean admitted that the hardest part of her husband's cancer diagnosis was seeing him in pain. She said she sometimes wished he would take a break from his career but knows "it's what feeds him."
"He loves doing 'Jeopardy!' He has his own family over there," Jean Trebek said on "GMA." "They're such a close-knit, beautiful group of people, so I think that gives him a lot of support, a sense of purpose, that he's just not in bed."
Throughout his career, the television icon never shied away from the opportunity to express his love for Jean. In his final memoir, "The Answer Is...: Reflections on My Life," revealed his first impression upon meeting his future wife in 1988.
"Sometimes you look at something, you look at someone, and you know. I mean, you've heard stories of people who meet and decide within half an hour; I knew this was going to be the person I'd end up with," he wrote.
Calling her "Jeanie" in the passage, he continued, "I recognized at a gut level that here was someone who was going to complete me as a human being."
The video in the media player above was used in a previous report.
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.
