When and How Did Joan Rivers Pass Away?
The trailblazing comedian, TV host, and overall dynamite entertainer died at the age of 81.
Even though it’s been more than a decade since Joan Rivers’ death, the comedy icon is still, as her daughter Melissa Rivers said on The Tonight Show, “the funniest person in the room.”
“Backstage, it was so warm and so lovely,” Melissa told Jimmy Fallon in May 2025 about filming NBC’s special about her mother, Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, which features an impressive lineup of comics who’ve long idolized Rivers.
“To get a room full of comedians not all trying to one up each other and throwing elbows is amazing,” Melissa said. “But what was amazing was when the clips of my mom would come on, everybody would stop and watch.”
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While Rivers undoubtedly left behind an incredible legacy, a remarkable career, and countless hilarious memories to look back on, her death in 2014 was not only a terrible loss but also unexpected.
Joan Rivers died in 2014 after undergoing a routine medical procedure
On August 28, 2014, Rivers went into cardiac arrest after undergoing a laryngoscopy at an outpatient surgery center in Manhattan. She was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was put on life support for several days. She died on September 4, 2014 at the age of 81.
"She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends,” Melissa Rivers said in a statement at the time. “My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner told NBC News that Rivers suffered a lack of oxygen during the medical procedure, causing her brain damage. “The manner of death is therapeutic complication,” the medical examiner said in a statement to the media in October 2014. “The death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy.”
Joan Rivers’ daughter Melissa is grateful “nothing was left unsaid” before her mother’s death
Several years after her mother’s passing, Rivers’ daughter opened up to E! News about what has helped her cope with her grief. “What saved me and got me through the last eight years was, nothing was left unsaid,” Melissa said in 2023. “I’m so lucky that I knew she loved me. And she knew that I knew — and she knew I loved her.”
Speaking to TODAY in 2016, Melissa said grieving her mother was a “tough process.” She also opened up to AARP about how complicated grief can be. “You miss even the sh-ttiest things: I miss when she’d come in and rearrange my furniture and tell me how I ran my house wrong and criticize everything,” she said. “I miss the criticism!”
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Melissa Rivers has honored her mother in many ways in the years after her death
From including golden bees in her wedding to producing a tribute special all about her legacy, Melissa Rivers continues to honor her iconic mother.
As a producer on NBC’s special about the trailblazing comedian, Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, Melissa said it’s exactly what her mother would want.
“This tribute is everything my mother would have wanted — hilarious, unfiltered, and filled with people she respected (and roasted). And as usual, she was still the funniest person in the room. It's incredibly moving to see so many iconic comedians come together to celebrate her legacy, especially the women whose careers she helped make possible by breaking down so many doors," Melissa told Deadline. “I know she'd be thrilled to see how far things have come, and she'd still have notes.”
Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute premieres on Tuesday, May 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, and an extended, unfiltered version will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
