Alex Trebek memoir set for July release; coincides with ‘Jeopardy!’ host’s 80th birthday

We’ll take “highly-anticipated autobiographies” for 1,000, Alex.

Longtime ”Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who has made headlines in the past year for speaking publicly about his battle with Stage 4 cancer, is coming out with his first autobiographical book, “The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life,” scheduled for release July 21, 2020, a day before his 80th birthday.

Simon & Schuster

Trebek has previously co-authored books surrounding “Jeopardy!” questions and history, but this book marks his first time writing his own story.

“I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year,” Trebek writes in an excerpt from the book shared by publisher Simon & Schuster on Tuesday.

Each chapter title will be in the form of a question in true “Jeopardy!” style, and the book will include fun “never-before-seen photos” and anecdotes for “Jeopardy!” fans, including his thoughts on the gameshow greats Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, why he shaved his signature mustache and what he thought of Will Ferrell impersonating him on “Saturday Night Live.” Trebek will also touch on topics like “marriage, parenthood, education, success, spirituality and philanthropy.”

According to the release, the TV icon felt compelled to share his story after receiving an outpouring of support and well-wishes following his cancer diagnosis.

The TV icon announced to the world March 6, 2019, that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Through treatment, he’s continued to host “Jeopardy!” and provide fans with health updates along the way.

“I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one,” he said in a video update a year later. “There were some good days, but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will. There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on.”

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