Comedy Legend Joan Rivers Dies At 81

Comedy legend Joan Rivers died at the age of 81 Thursday. She went into cardiac arrest on Aug. 28, and had been on life support at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. Six days after she was rushed to the hospital after she stopped breathing during a minor procedure, her daughter Melissa Rivers said she had “been moved out of intensive care and into a private room where she is being kept comfortable,” but gave no further details of her condition.

“It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends,” her daughter Melissa Rivers said. “My son and I would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff of Mount Sinai Hospital for the amazing care they provided for my mother.”

The NYC Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that they will be investigating the cause and manner of Rivers’ death. “The death has been reported to us and the Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating,” a spokesperson said.

The Dept. of Health is also looking at the edoscopy clinic where she went into cardiac arrest during a minor throat procedure. “It’s a full investigation of the matter,” another spokesperson said.

A native New Yorker, Rivers entered show business with the dream of a theatrical career, but comedy became her way of paying the bills along the way.

“Somebody said, ‘You can make six dollars standing up in a club,'” she told The Associated Press in 2013. “And I said, ‘Here I go!’ It was better than typing all day.”