Joan and Melissa Rivers had one of the closet, most high-profile -- and most hilarious -- mother-daughter relationships in showbiz. On an episode of "The Dr. Oz Show" airing Wednesday, the younger Rivers opens up about how she's coping with the unexpected loss of her mother. Seated in her home, Rivers shared memories of her mom, and revealed how she made the famously fussy Joan comfortable in her final hours of life (it included the comedienne's pro hair and makeup team).
"I just made sure she looked her best before everybody came to say goodbye,” Rivers said on the program.
The controversial comedian and "Fashion Police" co-host was rushed to Mount Sinai hospital in New York on Aug. 28 after she stopped breathing during a procedure on her vocal cords. She was kept on life support through the next week.
Rivers has since criticized the surgical facility for performing a procedure to which her mother had not consented and filed a malpractice suit. She called her mother's death "100 percent preventable" during an appearance on the "Today" show Monday.
Talking to Dr. Oz, Rivers explained why she let select friends and family say a private goodbye to her mother -- even though her mom may not have wanted that.
“I knew that was probably the one thing that she wouldn’t have wanted me to do because she was like, ‘Oh please nobody needs to waste their time, oh this is ridiculous,’" Rivers explained. "But I realized her friends needed it and somewhere I wanted her to know how beloved she was because she never felt that way. So I took a whole day and evening and we let certain people know that it was time to go.”
Eight months after the trailblazing comedian passed away, her daughter has penned a tribute to her mother, "The Book Of Joan: Tales Of Mirth, Mischief, And Manipulation."
The segment airs Wednesday, May 6 on the "Dr. Oz Show" on Fox.
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