Comedy legend, Joan Rivers has died at 81. Reports say that Rivers was undergoing surgery on her vocal cords at a clinic in New York City on Aug. 28 and she went into cardiac arrest during the procedure. She was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital and placed on a medically induced coma and spent eight days on life support. Joan’s daughter, Melissa Rivers made the difficult choice to take her mother off life support and confirmed her passing in a press release. (see below)
Joan was known for paving the way for comediennes. She was raw, honest, incredibly insightful and obviously hilarious. Her raspy voice and often offensive and foul-mouthed humor is what made her a star and beloved to us all. While many comedians make you squirm in your seats with their words, Joan had the power to make you want to get up and hide under said seat.
“I mock everybody, regardless of race, creed or color,” she told the Toronto Star in July. “Every joke I make, no matter how tasteless, is there to draw attention to something I really care about.”
Born Joan Alexandra Molinsky on June 8, 1933, to Russian immigrants, Rivers spent her childhood in Brooklyn until her parents moved to upper-class Westchester County, New York. She believed she inherited her sense of humor from her father, who was a doctor.
Nothing was off limits: Jews, Blacks, whatever, she tackled it. Her best jokes were often about herself. She was the first to mock her own facelifts and various other plastic surgeries. Her grandson Cooper often made an appearance in those jokes. She says he called her “Nana New Face” and that he’s never seen her without bandages on.
Joan proved that jokes were therapeutic, often allowing her to deal with life’s ills with a laugh. While on an interview on the Today Show with Lester Holt, Rivers said with a chuckle, “I’d rather be a good looking corpse, than in my casket looking like someone from my class reunion.”
Joan was one of the hardest working women in the business. She was 81 when she died, but she was nowhere near retirement age! She was one of the fabulous co-hosts of E!’s “Fashion Police,” she hosted red carpets from MTV VMAs to the Emmys, she was the star of the reality series, “Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?” and hosted two online shows “In Bed With Joan” and “Drunken Celebrity Phone Calls.”
We all know the phrase, “Who are you wearing?” But did you know that it was muva Joan who originally coined it? Working more red carpets than you could ever imagine, he love of the couture and her curiosity led her to as
We will miss you Joan!
An Official Statement From Melissa Rivers:
