Hours after Giuliana Rancic announced that she would continue to fight her breast cancer with a double mastectomy, Joan Rivers called me to voice support for her "Fashion Police" co-host and to let us know just how strong Rancic really is.
"We want you back with breasts, without breasts, we don't care -- we want you," an emotional Rivers told me, speaking of Rancic. "She is the most professional person I have ever met. First of all, she taped 'Fashion Police' last week knowing all this and said nothing. She leaves her problems at the door and comes in and delivers her jokes and says her comments."
Rancic had been struggling to decide between getting another lumpectomy and radiation or going with the more dramatic option of a double mastectomy.
"We did know she needed to go back and get more procedures, but we had no idea," Rivers reveals. "I think she is the bravest women in the world. You have no idea how much we love her."
Admitting that her husband's support was critical in coming to her decision to have the surgery, Giuliana told the "Today" show, "Bill said to me, 'I just need you around for the next 50 years, kid.' He said, 'I don't care what you look like. I don't care about the physical portion of this. I just need you around for the next 50 years. So, let's just get you healthy.'"
Joan tells me that, knowing Bill, she is not at all surprised by his unbelievable support: "These two are the real deal. I know he will be at her side through all of this like we all will. If she ever needs anything, she knows I would drop anything for her."
