Melissa Rivers Speaks Publicly for the First Time About Her Late Mother Joan
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Photo by: Stephen Lovekin/NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment(LOS ANGELES) — For the first time since her mother Joan died at the age of 81 on September 4, Melissa Rivers spoke publicly about the comedic legend.
“For me the last three months and six days — not that I’m counting — have been different to say the least,” she said during The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Breakfast in Los Angeles Wednesday.
When The Hollywood Reporter‘s president approached Melissa about the possibility of sharing memories of the late icon, she admitted she “was overwhelmed.” She still kept her sense of humor during the event Wednesday morning, even though she was speaking for the first time about her mother.
“Not just because it is the first time I’m speaking in tribute to my mother, but because every single person in this room could hire me, and a few have actually fired me. You know who you are but I don’t want you to feel bad…but technically I am now an orphan,” she added, according to the magazine.
Rivers remembered her mother as “fearless.”
“I don’t mean she didn’t have any fears,” she added. “I mean that although she was only 5’2″, she stood tall and walked through them….She was willing to say what others were thinking and too frightened to admit. She never apologized for a joke and no topic was taboo and she was fine with that.”
Rivers also regaled the room with stories of when her mother was younger, still taking risks and going after her dreams. From sending a photo in a frame to MGM at the age of just 8 to being sent home from camp for organizing a bunk strike, Melissa said, “In her mind, this little girl was clearly a star.”
Even though to everyone else she was a legend, to Melissa she was just her mom.
“It’s hard for me to really think of her as any of those things because the bottom line is, she was just my mother,” she added. “I guess it’s true that most of the women who are here — and we all have powerful voices in our respective fields — wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that brave little girl who sent her photo in.”
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