Melissa Rivers has issued a statement this morning regarding the condition of her mother, comedian Joan Rivers, who was brought out of a medically induced coma yesterday.
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 9:45 AM: "My mother has been moved out of intensive care and into a private room where she is being kept comfortable. Thank you for your continued support," said Rivers. No further details were provided by the family.
Rivers stopped breathing while undergoing a minor throat procedure on Aug. 28 in New York City. She was then rushed to the hospital where she was placed in the medically induced coma. Rivers had performed a comedy show at a Times Square theater Wednesday night and was reportedly in good health when she went to the clinic for the procedure.
BWW will keep you updated as further details unfold.
About
Joan Rivers:
Rivers made the rounds in New York during the 1950s, appearing in a few off-off Broadway plays (including one where she played a lesbian opposite an equally unknown
Barbra Streisand), surviving sleazy agents, tawdry clubs, and hostile audiences. A 1965 booking on "The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson" led to her hosting one of the first
Syndicated talk shows on daytime TV, "That Show with
Joan Rivers" in 1968.
In the 1970s Joan wrote the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely To (starring
Stockard Channing) and then wrote and directed her first feature film Rabbit Test, casting
Billy Crystal in the lead. In 1983 Joan became the permanent guest host on "The Tonight Show." Later, she headlined in Las Vegas, sold out
Carnegie Hall, produced a Grammy nominated comedy album, and wrote two best-selling books. In 1989 the Tribune Corporation launched Joan in her own
Syndicated daytime talk show.
She won an Emmy and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994 she wrote and starred on Broadway in
Sally Marr and Her Escorts, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Since then, Joan has written five more best-selling books, maintains her own jewelry line on QVC, served as host of the series "How'd You Get So Rich?" on TVLand, and filmed a special for Bravo. In 2009, she was the winner of
Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice". In 2010, she returned to The
FASHION POLICE show on
E! and was featured on the big screen in the acclaimed
Sundance Award-winning documentary
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. In 2011, she launch the reality TV series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? on Oxygen, which is now in its 4th season.
Her Broadway credits include Fun City, Broadway Bound and
Sally Marr...and her escorts, for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Her solo show,
Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, played at Los Angeles'
Geffen Playhousebefore moving to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, followed by a run at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008.
Photo Credit:
Walter McBride
Source: Deadline
