Melissa Rivers is the only child of Joan Rivers. Her father was Rivers’ second husband Edgar Rosenberg.
Melissa, born on January 20, 1968, and currently 46 years old, is of Jewish-Russian descent on her mother’s side and Jewish-German descent on her father’s side.
Melissa attended the University of Pennsylvania. She was a student when her father Edgar Rosenberg was found dead in a hotel room in Philadelphia in 1987. She studied European History and got a degree.
Melissa later got into the entertainment business herself, becoming a producer and an actress. Her 10 credits as actress on IMDB include appearances on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Cubed.
She was also an executive producer on Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? and Fashion Police, in addition to In Bed With Joan. She appeared on 34 episodes of the Joan & Melissa show from 2011 through 2014 and has also appeared on a number of shows as herself, including Couples Therapy, Celebrity Wife Swap, and The Chew.
Melissa was married to John Endicott from 1998 through 2003, and they had a son Cooper, who is often on the Joan & Melissa show.
Entertainer Joan Rivers, right, and her 19-year-old daughter, Melissa, leave hand in hand the memorial service for Edgar Rosenberg, Joan’s husband and Melissa?s father, in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 16, 1987. Over 300 mourners gathered at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple to pray and listen to remembrances of Rosenberg who committee suicide last week. (AP photo/Lennox McLendon)
(L-R) Television personality and actress Joan Rivers, Cooper Endicott, and television personality Melissa Rivers pose for a picture on location for the filming of her reality show ‘Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best’ at Theatre 80 St. Marks on September 3, 2011 in New York, United States. (Coppola/Getty Images)
Melissa has talked about her son lots of times, telling the Daily Mail in 2011: “My son Cooper has just turned ten and the sarcasm fairy has already started to take up residence inside his body. Not only am I living with my mother – again! – but I’ve also got her mini-me to contend with.”
She said Edgar’s suicide still has a deep effect on her. “It hits me when I look at Cooper, because Dad’s not around to enjoy his grandson. Cooper knows my dad isn’t here, and one day I'll talk to him about it, but there’s no need for a ten-year-old to know about these things.”
OK Magazine told her that Cooper “might be the most normal child on reality TV.”
“Well that’s because he is, and I think it’s all recessive genetics to be honest. First of all, I’m very lucky, I have intrinsically a good kid. And I know how lucky I’ve been since day one. He’s always been fairly easy. I had Cooper in December and was back on the red carpet in January. I picked him up and took him to work with me, you know took him to my dressing room. So he’s been raised the same way I was, which is that work is such a big part of our lives,” she said.
“I’m so blessed because he’s so normal. You know what? I’m just lucky. And I do try to keep very clear delineations about what is TV and what is private. I’m very clear on what he participates in and what of his life is shown, much more than I am with mine. I know clearly where the line is with him.”
Her former boyfriend Jason Zimmerman and his scandal also played out on the reality show, exposing that Jason was seeking out sexual partners online.
Melissa has an estimated net worth of $8 million.
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Joan Rivers Husband Edgar Rosenberg Was Found Dead in Philadelphia Hotel Room in 1987
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