Pat Sajak wrapped up more than four decades of calling letters in June 2024, and he did it for the best possible reason: he wants to spend real time with his family. Here is where that family story started, how it evolved, and where everyone has landed now.
I would rather leave a couple years too early than a couple years too late.
The family at a glance
- Pat divorced his first wife, Sherrill Sajak, in 1986. Not long after, he met Lesly Brown. They got engaged in summer 1989 and married on New Year’s Eve that year.
- They have two kids: Patrick (born September 1990) and Maggie (born January 1995).
- Pat retired from Wheel of Fortune in June 2024 and told Maggie ahead of his final episode that he was ready to move on and enjoy other parts of life with Lesly.
Lesly Brown-Sajak
Lesly came into Pat’s life through mutual friends, and the timeline moved fast: less than a year of dating, a summer 1989 proposal, and a New Year’s Eve wedding to close out the decade. Before all that, she graduated from the University of Maryland in 1986 with a degree in television production, modeled for a time, and even posed in Playboy’s 'Women of Washington' feature. These days she works as a photographer.
If you remember Wheel’s 7,000th episode in 2019, that was the rare night Lesly stepped into the spotlight. Pat introduced her to the audience and noted they were about to hit their 30th anniversary. A neat footnote for a milestone episode.
Patrick Sajak
Firstborn Patrick arrived in September 1990 and took a path far from TV. He finished medical school in 2021 and is, yes, officially Dr. Sajak. Pat celebrated the news on the show with the kind of proud-dad riff you’d expect, joking that his son wants to be addressed as 'Doctor' at home and quipping that his attempt to steer him into geriatrics did not pan out. The bottom line: his parents could not be prouder.
Maggie marked the moment on Instagram too, sharing a photo with her brother and basically broadcasting that big-sister pride at maximum volume.
Maggie Sajak
Maggie showed up on Wheel almost before she could walk — she first appeared on the show at one year old — and kept popping back in over the years. When Pat had surgery in 2019, Vanna White stepped in as host and Maggie temporarily took over Vanna’s usual letterboard duties. In 2021, Maggie made it official behind the scenes, becoming the show’s social correspondent.
That’s just one lane, though. Maggie also built out a legit legal resume: Princeton undergrad, a post-grad program at Columbia University, and a Georgetown law degree in 2023. Her vibe when she posted the cap-and-gown photo was basically: bring on the lawyer jokes.
And yes, there’s a personal-life update: in April 2026, she hard-launched her relationship with Jackson Olson of the Savannah Bananas by posting a Disneyland cuddle shot on Instagram. If you’ve seen that team’s viral hijinks, you know exactly the kind of energy we’re talking about.
Pat’s exit, on his terms
Before his final episode aired in June 2024, Pat told Maggie he was ready to close the Wheel chapter and spend more time living the rest of his life with Lesly. He put it simply: he wasn’t looking to keel over at the puzzle board, and he was excited for whatever comes next. For a guy who’s been a constant presence in living rooms since the early 80s, that feels like the clean, smart exit — early by choice, not late by momentum.