All About Nicky, Matthew and Emily: Alex Trebek's 3 Children

Alex Trebek had a close relationship with each of his three children: Nicky, Matthew and Emily.

The late Jeopardy! host was a household name for nearly 40 years, but even with his lengthy career, Trebek found time to put his family first. In the mid-1970s, Trebek married his first wife, Elaine, and he embraced her daughter from a previous relationship, Nicky, as his own. After the couple's divorce in 1981, Nicky followed her father into the game show industry, starting her career on Jeopardy! alongside Trebek.

In the late 1980s, Trebek met his second wife, Jean Currivan, and they welcomed two children together, their son Matthew and daughter Emily, in the early 1990s. Matthew is a restaurateur in New York City, and Emily is a real estate agent and interior designer in Los Angeles.

Following Trebek's death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80 on Nov. 8, 2020, his children are now carrying on his legacy through their philanthropic work — from donations to pancreatic cancer awareness walks, fundraising events, and even accepting a 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding game show host on Trebek’s behalf.

“My children, I’m happy to say, are very compassionate, very understanding, and very eager to do good work,” Trebek told Lifestyle.org in 2016. “Even though they enjoy a good lifestyle, they understand there are people out there who don’t have it, who need help, and they’re willing to help.”

Here’s everything to know about Alex Trebek’s children: Nicky, Matthew and Emily.

Nicky was born in Toronto but moved to L.A. with her mom — who was a Playboy Bunny, as well as a news anchor and talk show host in Canada — in the early 1970s, Nicky said on the Rarified Heir podcast in 2024.

Trebek and Elaine previously met in Canada and reconnected when they both moved to the United States (Trebek relocated to the U.S. in 1973, according to Forbes). After Trebek and Elaine married, he took in Nicky as his own through adoption.

Nicky’s career in the entertainment industry began on Jeopardy!’s production team. “I started with dad on Jeopardy! in 1984, right out of high school,” Nicky said on the podcast. “I walked right in the doors the same day he did.”

She worked on Jeopardy! alongside her father until the early 1990s, when she changed paths and entered the “cue card world” for shows like Family Feud, The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.

Nicky then entered movie production at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin studio and DreamWorks, followed by the music industry at DreamWorks Records. She even released her own original music in the 2000s. Decades later, Nicky returned to Jeopardy! as an assistant for her father from 2019 to 2021.

“Little did I know, when I went back to help dad ... I was there for the bigger reason that came many years later,” she said on the Rarified Heir podcast, referring to supporting him while he worked throughout his cancer treatment. “I’m unbelievably grateful I got to be there for that time. I was there for the beginning days of Jeopardy! and the end.”

Nicky has dedicated time to carrying on her father’s legacy and working with the nonprofit Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). In 2019, she attended the organization’s annual PurpleStride walk and fundraiser with her dad and told CBS This Morning in 2021 that it was “mind-blowing” to see how many people attended in support of her father.

Since then, Nicky has continued to work with PanCAN in her dad's honor. In 2021, she put together her first team for the walk, and the following year, she attended the walk again with “Team Nicky” — alongside Jean, Matthew and Emily. At the time, she raised nearly $40,000 for the charity.

Keeping her father’s legacy alive in her personal life as well, Nicky often posts on social media remembering her father.

Three months after he died in 2020, she shared a photo on Instagram of Trebek on Jeopardy! pointing at the questions with both hands. “Rather than post something sad I #choosejoy ????this always makes me laugh thinking about how many times he did that trying to get it right ????,” she wrote in the caption.

In a 2021 post, Nicky shared a photo of her and Trebek at the 2019 PanCAN walk. Starting her caption with “#missingyoueveryday,” she wrote about her father’s decision to share his diagnosis publicly.

“I’m beyond proud of him for his courage and integrity throughout his illness," she penned. "So I’m continuing what he started and will fight for everyone affected by pancreatic cancer."

As for her personal life, Nicky has been with her partner and “ride or die” Milo Perichitch since 2020.

Trebek and his second wife, Jean, welcomed their first child together, son Matthew, around 1991.

Unlike Nicky, -

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Matthew did not follow in his father’s entertainment footsteps and instead became a restaurateur. He’s the owner of two restaurants in New York: the Mexican street food restaurant Oso and the cocktail bar, coffee shop and takeout pizza window Lucille’s.

Matthew got into the hospitality industry while he was bartending during and after studying at Fordham University. Trebek, though, didn’t originally approve of his career path — even though the hospitality industry runs in their family. (Trebek’s father was a chef at a hotel in Canada, Matthew told his mom for a 2020 Insidewink blog post.)

“He was not on board at first,” Matthew told PEOPLE in 2019. “But then once he came to the space and saw it all panning out and unfolding, he really got on board. Now he’ll come in at noon and enjoy his double margarita!”

Despite Trebek’s initial reservations, both of Matthew’s restaurants have been a success, continuing to operate through the difficulties ofthe COVID-19 pandemic. Oso has even earned theMichelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand designation.

Like his siblings, Matthew has inherited his father’s desire to give back and carries on his legacy with charitable work.

In 2021, Matthew donated his father’s Jeopardy! wardrobe to the Doe Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps formerly homeless and incarcerated men get a fresh start with housing and job opportunities, per The New York Times.

Matthew’s donation involved more than 400 items — including dress shirts, ties, suits, polos, dress shoes and more. “This definitely aligned with my father’s interests and sentiments and values,” Matthew told The New York Times about his decision to donate Trebek’s clothes. “I think he would have thought it was a great idea.”

Matthew is also incredibly close with his sisters, who he sees often. In 2021, Nicky posted a photo of the three Trebek children in Malibu, and he has traveled with his mom and Emily all around the world, from Kenya to Hawaii to Cairo.

On his birthday in 2022, Nicky shared a slideshow of photos on Instagram celebrating the day. “#happybirthday to the one and only... my little brother. A true example of #kindness and #caring for all who cross your path,” she wrote in the caption.

Trebek and Jean welcomed their second child together, daughter Emily, in 1993.

Starting from a young age, Emily would visit her father on the set of Jeopardy!.

“When I was little, going to work with my dad was one of my favorite things to do,” she said in a 2016 blog post on Jeopardy!’s website, explaining that she would often draw him pictures that he would hang up in his office. “One morning, I drew him this ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ sign. He’s kept it on the front of his office door ever since, even 18 years later.”

A real estate agent and interior designer at her own company, Trebek's youngest has said that she learned everything she knows about construction from her father — who often told the Jeopardy! audience about the work he liked to do around his own house.

In an Insidewink story written by Jean in 2020, Emily said her father had “always been into construction” and helped her get into renovation.

“Flipping a home has always been on my ‘bucket list.’ When I bought my first house, I asked for my dad’s help,” she said. “He worked at the jobsite every single day and taught me so much. It really meant a lot to me how much time he dedicated to the project.”

Emily also told the story of their first house project in a blog post on Jeopardy!’s website in honor of Father’s Day in 2017. She wrote that her father knew everything that needed fixing, how to save money and did a lot of the demolition work himself, often working on the project from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

After her dad's death, Emily put her realtor skills to work in listing his longtime L.A. home for sale in 2022. Emily co-listed the Studio City property with another Compass real estate agent, and the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion sold a few months later for $6.45 million, per the listing.

Like her siblings, Emily gives back in her father’s honor, too. In November 2023, Trebek’s wife and children partnered with Stand Up to Cancer during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month to announce the Alex Trebek Fund. Appearing in a video to announce the news, Emily encouraged supporters to donate.

“I hope that all the fans of Jeopardy! and the community will really lean in and show support for my dad,” she said. “They showed so much support for my dad when he was going through his treatments, so I hope they stand up with this great organization.”

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