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Joan Rivers Dies
Aired September 04, 2014 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have to pull away from that. Sadly, I've got some news that I have to pass along to all of you: Joan Rivers, the famous, famous comedienne, has passed away at the age of 81.
We are just getting this information here. I have a statement from Melissa Rivers, the daughter, the family -- let me just read it for you, as we're just getting this tragic news:
"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joand Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends. My son and I would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff of Mount Sinai Hospital for amazing care they provided for my mother. Cooper and I have found ourselves humbled by the outpouring of love, support and prayers we have received from around the world. They have been heard and appreciated.
"My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. And although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
Joan Rivers, dead at the age of 81. Here is a look back at her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOAN RIVERS, ENTERTAINER: Can we talk?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joan Rivers could always talk.
RIVERS: Do you know what it's like to go in the morning to take off a facial mask and realize you're not wearing one? Oh, you don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
FIELD: With sometimes outrageous jokes, nothing was ever off-limits.
RIVERS: I hate old people. Oh. if you are (EXPLETIVE DELETED) old, get up and get out of here right, right now.
(LAUGHTER)
FIELD: Born in 1933, Rivers says even as she was growing up in the New York suburbs, she wanted to be an actress. RIVERS: I never had a choice. I always say, it's like a nun's
calling.
FIELD: But her show business career didn't start until she was 24 years old. The Phi Beta Kappa graduate with Barnard with one failed marriage behind her moved out of her parents' home and tried to get a job as an actress.
And while her acting career didn't take off right away, she got her first break writing for the puppet Topo Gigio on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Give me a kiss good night.
(LAUGHTER)
FIELD: And joined the iconic Second City comedy theater in 1961. As her comedy career was taking off, she married producer Edgar Rosenberg in 1964, who would manage her career and become the focus of so many of his wife's jokes. The pair had one daughter together, Melissa.
In 1965, Rivers saw her career get a huge boost when she appeared on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" for the first time.
RIVERS: He gave all of us our starts. My life changed. I went on the show the first time, seven years of struggling, coming out of Second City. And on the air, he said, you're going to be a star. And the next day, my life was different.
FIELD: It was the start of a 21-year professional relationship with Carson and the show. She made regular appearances, eventually becoming the show's substitute host in 1983.
But Rivers' decision to launch her own show on the brand-new FOX network in the fall of 1986 ended her relationship with Carson and "The Tonight Show."
RIVERS: He should have been proud. I finally at the -- after my contract was up, done, I took another job. I think because I was a woman, he never thought I would leave. Or maybe -- maybe he liked me better. But the minute I became competition, it became out to kill me, out to kill me. And that's what came down forever. Never spoke to me again.
FIELD: The show was canceled in 1987. Just a few months later, Rivers' husband, Edgar, committed suicide in a Philadelphia hotel room.
RIVERS: I was in the hospital, and some idiot called the house and they said, where's your mother? Somebody from Philadelphia. And Melissa said, she's not here. And they said, well, please tell her your father killed himself. How is that for a phone call?
FIELD: Rivers regrouped by doing what she always did, putting her life out in the open.
LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE": Is there any area you would not go to?
RIVERS: No. If I think I want to talk about it, then it's right to talk about. And I purposely go into areas that people are still very sensitive and smarting about.
KING: Why?
RIVERS: If you laugh at it, you can deal with it. I -- that's how I have lived my whole life. If I swear to you -- and I'm Jewish -- if I were in Auschwitz, I would have been doing jokes just to make it OK for us.
FIELD: Her career surged again when her withering take on red carpet fashion full of biting remarks and celebrity put-downs exposed her to a whole new group of fans.
RIVERS: I love performing. It's like a drug for me.
FIELD: And in 2010, she felt she was at the top of her game.
RIVERS: I think I'm working the best I have ever worked now, because I -- it's all been done to me. What are they going to do? Are they going to fire me? I have been fired. Audiences are not going to like me? A lot of audiences have not like me. I have been bankrupt. My husband has committed suicide. I mean, it's OK. And I'm still here. So it's OK.
Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Can't believe here -- I'm sitting here telling you this. Joan Rivers at the age of 81 has died.
We're making phone calls and trying to talk to people to try to understand exactly what happened.
But just let me bring in Alexandra Field, who -- you were sitting here just a couple days ago and telling us the news initially, because we knew she had gone in for, what, a routine throat surgery, and something terribly wrong happened.
FIELD: Right. We were just blown away a week ago. She went to this endoscopic clinic, had a procedure to take a look at her vocal cords. We have learned from some of her friends she had sort of chronic problems with her throat.
This is something that should have been a simple and, again, a routine procedure. And it was last Thursday that we learned that she had gone into cardiac and respiratory arrest during that procedure. She was then rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, not far from that clinic where the procedure was being performed.
And at that point, she was brought in critical condition. It's been a week now of fans just waiting for good news, hoping for good news. Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, her young grandson, Cooper, who is just 13 years old, they immediately flew from L.A. a week ago.
They have been by Joan's side. They have been putting out statements, sort of poignantly saying earlier this week they have their fingers crossed. We now know of course the very sad news that Joan Rivers has died. But they were watching, waiting and really hoping they were going to see signs of improvement. But, you know, when somebody goes into cardiac arrest, when somebody goes into respiratory arrest, we knew a week ago when we were talking just how serious this could potentially be.
BALDWIN: They had put her in a medically induced coma, correct, and they weren't quite sure what might have been lost, brain capacity, you know, lack of oxygen for X-period of time.
And just though getting the different updates from the family, to me, listen, I'm sure to a lot of people, just stunned, stunned that this has happened.
We are just now -- if you're just now joining us, Joan Rivers at the age of 81, legendary comedienne, I ran into her in the airport just a couple months ago, she was a hoot, is the best word I could use to describe her.
As we talk about a little bit her legacy, and stay with me, Alexandra, we have Brian Stelter on the phone with me. He is our senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES."
And, Brian Stelter, when you look at her body of work going all the way back to late at night with Johnny Carson, there are no words to explain how amazing this woman was.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's what I am most struck by in the obituary we just heard. Her career has traced the arc of television and of media, not just television, but all of media, because here is a woman who gets her start, her claim to fame, on broadcast television in the days of the big three networks with Johnny Carson.
But now more recently, she had a YouTube channel. She was on cable. She was on "Fashion Police," of course. So she was able to invent and reinvent herself so many different times, frankly, in a way I think many others look up to and will continue to look up to now that she's passed.
BALDWIN: And you think of Joan Rivers, you think of her sense of humor. You think of Joan Rivers and her daughter, Melissa, her only daughter, so incredibly close, her, you know, acerbic comments when it comes to all things fashion, right, on "Fashion Police" and "Celebrity Apprentice."
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: Her biting comedy, we may even say sometimes mean comedy. But I interviewed Nancy O'Dell the weekend for "Reliable Sources," Nancy O'Dell, the co-host of "Entertainment Tonight," and she made the point that in Joan Rivers' coverage of the red carpet more honesty came through, because, after all, not every dress is a hit, not every dress is perfect.
And Joan Rivers was one of the first, not always the first, but one of the first to actually say that, to actually be more blunt, more honest, when it comes to that kind of coverage. I think her red carpet coverage is going to be remembered for a long time.
And, by the way, when it comes to the red carpet, that's another example of how she reinvented herself. She covered the carpet for E! and then went over to the TV Guide Network, because her contract ended at one network, she found another place to go and could have with her daughter, Melissa. And that's an example of a woman who can constantly evolve and reinvent herself over the years.
BALDWIN: And people loved her. They kept watching, they loved her sense of humor. I think she had this almost wicked sense of humor in the way she would talk about people, biting sense of humor, as you say, Brian Stelter.
Nischelle Turner, she's our entertainment correspondent, she's hopping on the phone with me now as we're reporting the sad, sad news that at age 81, Joan Rivers has passed away.
And, Nischelle, when is the last time you sat down across from Joan?
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINER CORRESPONDENT: Oh, gosh. You know, I have interviewed her many times. I think the last time that I got to sit and talk to her, it's been a couple of years.
But I remember the interview. It was so funny, because the first thing I did when I saw her, she had these wonderful shoes on. They were really interesting looking. They were black pumps with this rose heel. And I said to her oh, gosh, Joan, these shoes are gorgeous. Who made those shoes? And she is like, do you think I'm going to say this on the air? I'm not giving these people any kind of airtime. They didn't pay me for these shoes.
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: I just thought it was hilarious, a great bit. That's kind of who she was, very honest, very straightforward, to the point, unapologetic, sometimes to a fault.
But it's the reason that everyone loved her the way they did. And, of course, this is the news that some people have been preparing for, for a little bit, of course, the news we never wanted to get that we're getting this afternoon.
BALDWIN: Nischelle, she had joked about her own morality at that show the night before she went in, I know, for this throat surgery. It's something she had joked about before.
Remind us where she was the eve before the surgery.
TURNER: Yes. She did.
She was performing that day before she had the surgery, that Wednesday before at a comedy club here in New York. And she did have jokes during her set about her own morality. She also wrote about it in her book, in her 2012 book, "I Hate Everyone, Starting With Me." She talked about the fact how she hates obituaries, but she loves a good funeral because that's where she could go to pick up newly single men.
She did that and she always said that she could make a joke out of any situation. She always believed that's what comics did best. They made everyone feel a little bit at ease when they were going through the most pain. So that's what she felt like she needed to joke about, the most painful situations.
And she thought that would make everybody in the room feel a little better.
BALDWIN: Instead of sitting here and talking about her, let me just pause and let's listen to Joan Rivers herself, her most memorable moments, looking back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's Joan Rivers.
RIVERS: My hot flashes are so bad, I was hit by a heat-seeking missile. You don't know. If I want to see three people who make tons of money and have no talent, I will not watch you guys. I will watch the Kardashians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened to your high? What happened?
RIVERS: I scratched it on Al Roker's zipper.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now it's time to bring up the man of the hour, comedy legend Joan Rivers.
CROWD: Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan!
RIVERS: I do an upside-down glass, because I have not seen cups this empty since I did shots with Dina Lohan.
I'm sure some of you out there are wondering if my breasts are real, OK? Let me just explain to you. Thank you. This one is. This one isn't.
What we do is a calling, my dear. We make people happy. It's a calling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Joan Rivers, age 81, has just passed away, just reporting this news here. We're hearing a little bit from her family, got a statement from Melissa Rivers, which I will read for you once again in just a moment.
But I have on the line with me right now the legendary Larry King, who -- Larry King, I hate that we're talking again like this, reporting on the passing of Joan Rivers. I'm sure you interviewed her millions of times. Where to begin?
KING: I begin 45 years ago, when Joan came on my old all-night radio show, and she appeared with me at a local radio in Miami. She appeared with me. She used to own a club in Los Angeles, the Little Club. She was not only just a funny person, she was a wonderful lady. She was a great mother. Great grandmother.
She was a devoted -- husband. Tragically, her husband killed himself. She never remarried, took that with her the rest of her life. Named her -- his grandson is named Edgar in his honor. And she loved life. Everybody she kidded, she took -- she knew no boundaries.
She had -- everything was funny to her. And because everything was funny, you couldn't really object, because she took no prisoners in any circumstance. She was Joan Rivers, and we will never see her likes again. She was also a great pal. My wife and I had dinner at her home in New York.
She had a wonderful apartment home. She was a very good hostess. She was just a -- she was a terrific lady. She was always available and a hard worker. And there was a great documentary on her a couple years ago where she never edited. So it showed all how hard she worked and she would travel anywhere to do a show and laid out jokes on the floor, so she would remember jokes she may have forgotten. It was always fun being around her.
In fact, one night, we both worked together at a comedy event in Los Angeles, a charity event. She was late. So I did 20 minutes and then she did an hour-and-a-half. And you see her right there, how -- just that face, that's Joan. There will never be a Joan Rivers again.
BALDWIN: Larry, what was she like when the cameras weren't rolling?
KING: She was really wonderful. She was funny. She was sensitive. She cared about things. She cared about the world. She cared about her friends. She had great, great girlfriends. And they gathered together a lot.
They -- she was just -- what you see is what you got. There was that side of Joan. And then the other side was a warm person, lady. She wasn't afraid to attack people off the air either. She was just -- she was Joan Rivers all of the time. You know, it was just -- her roasts were incredible. She was ready to be roasted.
She was funny at a roast. She was hysterical -- at every event she ever went to, the crowd -- she stole the event. She knew -- as you can see right there, she made other comics laugh heartily.
BALDWIN: I heard she had drawers and drawers of jokes in her apartment.
KING: She did.
BALDWIN: We will talk about that We will talk about that in a second. But, Larry, let met just play a clip. This is one of the times Joan Rivers came on your show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: If I think I want to talk about it, then it's right to talk about. And I purposely go into areas that people are still very sensitive and smarting about.
KING: Why?
RIVERS: If you laugh at it, you can deal with it. I -- that's how I have lived my whole life. If I swear to you -- and I'm Jewish -- if I were in Auschwitz, I would have been doing jokes just to make it OK for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Tell me about those drawers and drawers of jokes, Larry King. Larry King, you with me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you know what? He's going to be right back.
BALDWIN: He will be right back. OK. He will be right back. We will wait for Larry King, whose dear friend, as you heard him, Joan Rivers has passed away at the age of 81.
We have to take a quick break. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: Can we talk here for a second? It's no big deal to have a woman in the White House. John F. Kennedy had 1,000 of them. I am telling you right now.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The internationally renown comedienne Joan Rivers at the age of 81 has died. And we're getting now as we are bringing different voices of people who have known her, loved her, Larry King was just on the phone with me and he said there will never be another Joan Rivers. I do have a statement from the family. Let me just read that for you.
This is from her daughter, Melissa Rivers. "It is with great sadness I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends."
It goes on: "Cooper and I have found ourselves humbled by the outpouring of love, support and prayers we have received from around the world. They have been heard and appreciated. My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. And although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon." Donald Trump is on the phone with me. And when we think of Donald Trump, we definitely think of "The Apprentice," "Celebrity Apprentice," and Joan Rivers, her daughter, Melissa, were contestants on that show.
Mr. Trump, are you with me?
DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TRUMP HOTELS & CASINO RESORTS: I am indeed.
BALDWIN: So here we have the passing of your friend. Tell me what -- tell me about your relationship with Joan Rivers. I know just even for your show, it's a grueling schedule. And she won.
TRUMP: She did win.
She was a spectacular woman. She had tremendous energy and, frankly, intelligence. And she won. And she beat out, you know -- we have 14 or 15 contestants, and many were young athletes that were not able to keep up with her. She was 76 years old on the night she won. And she was amazing. Her strength was incredible.
And she became really a very good friend of mine. And it's just shocking to hear. In fact, we had her -- we just finished shooting a new season of "The Apprentice" and she was on two episodes in a very major way. And so it's so surprising. I saw her recently. She was in great health and great spirit. So it's even more shocking when I see what just happened.
BALDWIN: You know, you mention on the show all these different younger athletes, other big names who were on "Celebrity Apprentice." And the fact she won, tell me about Joan Rivers' competitive streak.
TRUMP: That was the amazing thing.
She was against a baseball player who was a long ball hitter, long big home run hitter. I don't have to mention names. I don't want to embarrass too many people here. But she was against a fighter, great fighter. And after three or four episodes, mentally, they were exhausted. And she went on and she was stronger at the end than she was at the beginning.
And I actually marveled at it. One of the reasons she won, I said look at the energy that this woman displays. And she also displayed great judgment, and really, really smart. And, you know, it's a tough show; it's a tough show to win. And you need stamina. She had unbelievable stamina.
BALDWIN: What about her daughter? Donald, what about her daughter, Melissa? They were on the show together. They're incredibly close. Can you just describe the relationship you saw, especially when the cameras weren't rolling?
TRUMP: Well, the relationship she had, the love she had for the daughter was unbelievable, for Melissa. And, frankly, she was extremely protective, not that Melissa needed that. But she thought that the son rose and shone with Melissa.
She loved her daughter. She was an amazing mother. But she really loved Melissa more than anybody, anything. There was nobody else. And that's the way it is. It must be very, very, very tough right now for Melissa, because I know that -- and they're very different personalities. And that showed very much so on "The Apprentice," frankly. They were very, very different types of people.
But the love they had for each other was amazing. So I know Melissa is going through a very, very hard time.
BALDWIN: Certainly, our hearts and thoughts with the family right now. Donald Trump, thank you so much for calling in and just sharing a little bit about your friend and the fierce competitive streak in Joan Rivers when she won at age -- older, certainly, than some of her competitors.
Again, if you're just joining us and you're watching CNN, breaking news, Joan Rivers at the age of 81 has died. I think it's just worth reminding people and, as I do so, Alexandra Field, let me bring you back in.
You know, she had undergone this routine throat surgery, and something went wrong. And so ultimately there was cardiac arrest. We're not really sure how -- lack of oxygen. The fact that she has died, the night before, and this is the point I'm getting to you with you. The night before, she was doing a show. It was a comedy show. And you had talked with a friend who had been with her the night before. What did the friend tell you?
FIELD: Yes. They had this comedy show just on Wednesday night. Right after the comedy show, her friend, longtime friend of 40 years, Jay Redick (ph), who is a producer who has collaborated with her on a number of projects, he said he met her for dinner around midnight.
(CROSSTALK)
FIELD: Yes, she gets off stage. She performs for a packed house, she does her routine, and then out to dinner at midnight in her neighborhood. She's a lifelong New Yorker. This is an old friend. They got together.
And I said, you know, what did you two talk about the night before? And he said we talked about everything like old friends do. And he said anything you talk about with Joan is always a joke. They had a lot of laughs, he said. She had mentioned to him that she was going in the next morning for this procedure. But really he made very little of it when we spoke to him. He didn't indicate that she was or should have been in any way concerned or nervous or any of that, just that the two had been together.
She was going to perform again the following night or two nights later, which would have been Friday, so a show on Wednesday, another show booked for Friday with this procedure in the middle. She had 27 stand-up performances booked for the season,not to mention the "Fashion Police" show, this show she was doing online, "In Bed With Rivers remains on life support in ."
BALDWIN: Her work ethic.
(CROSSTALK)
FIELD: Yes, 81 years old.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: yes.
FIELD: And you try to look back and you say what's the height of Joan Rivers' career, and a lot of people would say hey, you're on "Carson" for 20 years. That's got to be the height, the pinnacle for any comedienne.
But then you say, oh, look, this is a woman who did her own late-night show as a woman, a trailblazer, so maybe that's the highlight. Or becomes known to this other generation for sort of inventing the red carpet shtick that she became famous for later in life and then went on to "Fashion Police," and she was just -- she did not stop. It's Fashion Week here in New York right now and I know that over there, there are going to be just a lot of heavy hearts.
You didn't want to be on her bad side, of course, in terms of what you were wearing. You don't want to be lambasted by Joan. She had a sharp tongue. But she just sort of invented that field of fashion comedy that became her brand in later years.
BALDWIN: I have an interview with a fashion designer as soon as I get off the set and I don't know if it's happening now, because they were dear friends as well. It's like everyone here in New York somehow had this connection to Joan Rivers.
When we come back, more on the life of Joan Rivers who has died at the age of 81.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: I hate old people. I say I hate, hate -- oh, the bodies? The bodies? Enjoy your bodies now. Oh. Out of brassiere, this is how I go to the bathroom. It is just -- I use my left boob now as a stopper in the tub.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have to pull away from that. Sadly, I've got some news that I have to pass along to all of you: Joan Rivers, the famous, famous comedienne, has passed away at the age of 81.
We are just getting this information here. I have a statement from Melissa Rivers, the daughter, the family -- let me just read it for you, as we're just getting this tragic news:>
