The years that followed were a dark time for Rivers, both personally and professionally.
Before her death last week,
Rivers spoke to Esquire magazine in 2007 about the financial state she was left
in after her husband's unexpected death:
Yeah, it's true. I was $37
million in debt. I'm not a businesswoman. My husband was a businessman. I never
had to worry about business. Afterward, some son of a bitch took me public and
absconded with the funds. And all these horrible bottom-feeders came in and
bought up my name and my likeness.
What it does to you? When
you're in debt for the rest of your life? When you cannot work? When you're
sitting there at fifty-eight years old, and they're telling you, you cannot use
your name or your likeness? You cannot sell a piece of jewellery, you cannot go
on television? Try that one on for size...
The guy who absconded with
the money, by the way, the SEC got him. He went to jail. A couple of butt-f---s
later and he's out. Meanwhile, I'm still paying off my company. I will until
the day I die.
Since her husband's death,
Rivers worked non-stop trying to remain in the public eye and earn money to
support her lavish lifestyle.
The comedian hosted E!'s
"Live from the Red Carpet" from 1996 to 2004 and later became a
co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police," which premiered in 2002 and was
supposed to shoot the week Rivers died.
In 2009, at the age of 76,
Rivers won NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice." She later starred
alongside daughter Melissa in WE TV's "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows
Best?" and constantly made TV cameos on shows like "Louie."
She has written 13 best-selling
books.
Pointing to a calendar full
of gigs, Rivers admitted "This is happiness,” in the 2010 documentary
about her life,” Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work."
But one of Rivers' biggest
money-makers of all was the line of jewellery and other products she designed
and sold on QVC.
Between her various hosting
duties and QVC royalties, it's reported Joan was earning as much as $50 million
per year. When she died last week at age 81, Rivers was worth a reported $150
million.
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