UPDATE: September 4th 3:10 pm
Time is reporting that Joan Rivers died in New York City today as a result of throat surgery complications. The comedic legend was 81 years old.
Reports say that Rivers was undergoing surgery on her vocal cords at a clinic in New York City on Aug. 28 when she stopped breathing and had to be transported to Mount Sinai Hospital. Joan’s daughter, Melissa Rivers and her 13-year-old grandson, Cooper, who lived with her in Malibu, Calif., rushed to her bedside.
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:
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UPDATE: August 30th 3:56 pm
According to TMZ, Joan Rivers is now fighting for her life after being placed on life support.
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UPDATE: August 29th 4:09 pm
Joan Rivers is in recovery after she stopped breathing on an operating table on Thursday.
E!’s “Fashion Police” host went into cardiac and respiratory arrest while undergoing throat surgery at a medical clinic, according to USA Today. The facility does minor procedures and is housed about a mile away from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
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Joan was immediately rushed to the hospital by an ambulance and she was in critical condition upon arrival. She is now on the mend. The style critic’s daughter, Melissa Rivers, flew in from Los Angeles to be by her mother’s side, and she’s happy to see her mother make it through what could have been a deadly episode.
“I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming love and support for my mother. She is resting comfortably and is with our family,” Melissa said in a statement. “We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.”
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This was a far different outcome for the procedure than Joan was expecting as she had been scheduled to perform standup comedy in New Jersey the following night. She’d gone in for it between show
“She said, ‘You know I’m 81 years old, and I could drop dead at any moment and you would be so lucky because you will have a story to tell your friends for the rest of your life,’” Michael Lucas, who had been at Joan’s show on Wednesday told CNN. “Then she mimicked people talking about what it was like to see her drop dead on stage.”
Having been in the audience, Joan’s emergency took him completely by surprise as he recalls how lively she was during her set on Wednesday. “There was no sign [that] night that she was declining,” he said. “Her show was over an hour long and she never stumbled or even paused to catch her breath.”
Joan Rivers Dies At The Age Of 81 was originally published on theurbandaily.com
