Melissa Rivers reflects on what she lost in the Los Angeles wildfires – which her late mother had nothing to do with Joan Rivers‘ legacies.
“Luckily the jokes and the main archival pieces were picked up about two and a half or three months ago for a national comedy center,” Melissa, 56, said. People in an interview published Sunday January 19.
Melissa noted that the binder contained more than 65,000 of Joan’s original jokes from the start of her career in 1950 until her death in 2014. (Joan died at age 81 after experiencing complications during outpatient surgery for throat.)
Melissa added that Joan’s “good things”, meaning her jewelry, were in a safe in a bank vault. Joan’s wardrobe was auctioned off for charity.
Melissa, who was one of tens of thousands of local residents forced to evacuate Los Angeles due to ongoing wildfires, said CNN on January 8, she collected Joan’s Emmy and a photo of her father, Edgar Rosenbergbefore leaving his home.
“It’s the end of everything that belonged to my family and its history,” Melissa told the news agency at the time. “I grabbed my mom’s Emmy, a picture of my dad, and a drawing my mom had made of me and my son. …I opted for a drawing of her, rather than a photo. I know I can find the photos, but a drawing I can’t replace.
In addition to the items she took before leaving home, Melissa lost other memories of her parents.
“I had his bathrobe and my dad’s,” she said. People. “Everyone asks, ‘What about her wardrobe?’ But I tell myself that I lost the only three things I kept in my house because they reminded me so much of them.
Melissa Rivers knows that Fashion Police was a must-see TV series when her mother, Joan Rivers, was at the helm — but she doesn’t think it would work in today’s social climate. “(You) couldn’t do that anymore,” Melissa, 56, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the upcoming November event Dead Funny: A Living Tribute to Joan Rivers Benefiting (…)
Melissa explained that she and her fiancé, Steve Mitchellhas “lost everything,” adding: “When we say we lost everything, well, you can’t get it until you see the video. This is not just about my life, but also about my son Cooper’s. We were both only children, and all that went away.
Melissa, who welcomed her son Cooper, 24, with John Endicott in 2000, said his life was spent in three LL Bean tote bags. Melissa noted that she and her family are doing “as well as can be expected.”
“We’re all doing our best,” she said. “Cooper is made of the same tough stuff as me. And we all lean on each other and get through it.
Today, Melissa has found temporary housing and is embracing her inherited sense of humor as she and her family navigate what’s next. “It’s my superpower,” she said, laughing in the worst moments, like Joan. “I am my parents’ daughter.”
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