Joan Rivers Still on Life Support, Daughter Says
Image by Getty Images
By Anne Cohen September 2, 2014
Joan and Melissa Rivers // Getty Images
Melissa Rivers has confirmed that her mother and “Fashion Police” co-host Joan Rivers is still on life support.
“On behalf of my mother and our family, we are extremely grateful for all the love and support we’ve received. At this time, she does remain on life support,” Melissa Rivers said in a statement.
The 81-year-old lady of comedy was placed in a medically-induced coma at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after she stopped breathing during a minor throat procedure on August 28. Though she remains on life support, she is apparently making some small but positive steps towards recovery.
“It’s a slow process, but she’s on the road to recovery,” a source told E! News. “She’s getting better. Don’t believe all this ridiculous speculation.”
Melissa Rivers, who flew to New York with her 13-year-old son Cooper, has thanked Rivers’ fans for their support during this difficult time.
“Thank you for your continued love and support,” she said in a statement released Sunday. “We are keeping our fingers crossed.”
“She is a rock. She is calmer than I’ve ever seen her,” the same source said of 46-year-old Melissa. “All these reports about doomsday are not true. She is her mother’s daughter and she’s tough as nails. She’s the person keeping everyone together.”
According to a friend, Joan was laughing about “going in for a little procedure” on the night before the operation.
What a fighter. Get better — we miss you.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture How one Jewish woman fought the Nazis — and helped found a new Italian republic
-
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
-
Fast Forward Betar ‘almost exclusively triggered’ former student’s detention, judge says
-
Fast Forward ‘Honey, he’s had enough of you’: Trump’s Middle East moves increasingly appear to sideline Israel
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.