The trailblazing journey of Joan & Melissa Rivers, the powerhouse duo is the focus of this Sunday’s E! True Hollywood Story.
A poignant look at this pair’s remarkable careers and personal trials and triumphs from Joan’s early beginnings, when she defied her family to pursue her dreams of entertainment, to the heartbreaking suicide of Joan’s husband and Melissa’s father that almost destroyed the women’s relationship, to their fabulously successful lives today.
Laughter, love, heartbreak and unwavering determination are a few of the key components of the story of these two women.
Select quotes from the episode include:
Joan on her decision to join “the biz” –
“We [Joan and her parents] had terrible fights about me wanting to be in the business. And I ran out, I drove to NY. And I parked in front of the YMCA and I slept in the car and I washed in the Y for a week. I got an office temporary job during the day and when I got paid I moved into the Y”
Joan on her first plastic surgery procedure –
“I was so proud of it, ‘look at my eyes! Look what I did to my eyes!,’ but people were shocked by it… ”
Joan on the birth of her daughter, Melissa –
“There was no question when Melissa was born, when she was put it my arms – that was it. She was my priority.”
Joan on her mother’s passing –
“They said it was heart failure and I never got to make up with her…terrible, terrible, terrible. That is why to this day I will never have an argument with someone I care about without making up the same day.”
Melissa on her childhood –
“My parents really wanted to create as normal and stable environment as they could. We sat down to dinner every single night; that was the family rule.”
Melissa on the day she learned her father had taken his own life –
“I felt this huge distance from everyone and I felt lost and finally late that night I found my mom, she was sitting in our library and I remember lying across her lap and I was sobbing.”
The E! True Hollywood Story: Joan and Melissa Rivers premieres on May 13th at 10:30 PM ET/PT on E!