All About Joan Rivers’ Daughter Melissa Rivers (Who Looks So Much Like Her Mom, She Played Her in a Movie!)

• Joan Rivers welcomed her daughter Melissa Rivers in 1968

• The TV legend, who died in September 2014, worked alongside Melissa on red carpets and as co-hosts of Fashion Police

• Melissa now has a son of her own and married her second husband, Steve Mitchel, in March 2025

Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers were more than just mother and daughter — they were friends and business partners.

On Jan. 20, 1968, Joan and her producer husband, Edgar Rosenberg, welcomed their daughter Melissa. In the early days of motherhood, the comedian was asked what the most surprising thing was about giving birth. Video footage obtained by E! News showed Joan emotionally responding, “That I gave birth to my best friend.”

Despite the demands of and spotlight on their entertainment careers, the couple gave their daughter a humble upbringing. After graduating from high school, Melissa attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her degree in European history, per her Hurrdat Media bio.

She went on to forge her own entertainment career, first as an actress in TV series including episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Dave the Barbarian, then as a television host, correspondent and producer alongside her mother.

While their relationship briefly deteriorated in the aftermath of a family tragedy, Joan and Melissa were closer than ever when the comedy legend died in September 2014. On the sixth anniversary of Joan’s death, Melissa wrote a tribute for her on the late star’s Instagram.

“Not a day goes by where I don’t think about her — her words still guide me and of course make me laugh,” Melissa shared, adding, “I miss her dearly.”

Here’s everything to know about Joan Rivers’ daughter Melissa.

Melissa had a humble childhood

Though both Joan and Rosenberg worked in Hollywood, they tried to give Melissa a normal childhood. During a March 2023 interview with Newsweek, the entertainment multi-hypenate recalled being tasked with chores, expected to study hard and taught the importance of manners. Melissa revealed she didn’t even realize her parents were famous until she was in high school.

“I had a very normal childhood. My parents actively made it that way,” she shared. “We had a couple of maids, a housekeeper and a nanny, but that didn’t matter. I was still expected to clear the table.”

Melissa added, “I was always taught that wealth was a privilege. [My parents] saw a dangerous road ahead. They saw how some of their peers were raising their kids, and they knew that’s not the way they wanted to raise me.”

She and Joan struggled in the aftermath of her father’s death

In 1987, when Melissa was a sophomore in college, her father died by suicide at the age of 62. Decades later, in May 2019, Melissa opened up about how his death negatively impacted her relationship with Joan.

“I was angry at my mom, I was angry at my dad, I was angry at the UPS guy, I was angry at the person in traffic,” she said on the ABC Radio podcast Life After Suicide. “I was really mad at my mom, really mad, and we’ve spoken very openly about that.”

Joan spoke candidly to PEOPLE about the strain on their relationship as well, saying in June 1993, “The way I see it, Melissa blamed me. But she wasn’t going to turn to me by the casket and say, ‘You killed Daddy!’ ” She added, “[We] tried to go on with our own lives and were both so broken that we couldn’t help each other.”

On the podcast, Melissa revealed that part of the strain on her and Joan’s relationship was due to Joan’s resentment toward Rosenberg. “What I found fascinating — and I know my mother would deny this — she never got past it. She felt terribly embarrassed, terribly angry, terribly embarrassed … I don’t think she ever got over the anger,” Melissa said.

The television host added, “She used to say to people, ‘Well, I just still can’t believe what he put Melissa through, and he did that to Melissa.’ “

In September 2024, while reflecting on her rift with Joan again, Melissa told PEOPLE they were able to repair their relationship with the help of therapy and the passage of time. She added that an abusive relationship was the catalyst that brought her and Joan back to each other.

“I went into a full crisis situation where I ended up in an abusive relationship, and when I called her for help, she came through,” Melissa said. ”It took another major crisis for us to heal from the other crisis.”

Joan and Melissa worked together

In addition to following in Joan’s footsteps by pursuing an entertainment career, Melissa also worked with her mother. They partnered to conduct red carpet celebrity interviews, co-host Fashion Police and star in their reality TV show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best.

Fashion Police was a particularly special collaboration for the duo. The show began in 1995 and ran for over two decades before ending in November 2017. Melissa joined as a co-host in 2015, and she hosted the special finale episode, Fashion Police: The Farewell, in remembrance of Joan’s legacy.

During a May 2023 interview with The Wrap, Melissa spoke about how their mother-daughter connection made their working relationship extra special.

“I will never have another professional relationship like that. I’ll never have another partner like that, where the chemistry was so easy and knowing where the other person was going on a professional level,” she said.

Melissa has a son

Melissa welcomed a child of her own in 2000: a son named Edgar “Cooper” Endicott, whom she shares with her ex-husband, John Endicott. In January 2024, she told PEOPLE she wished her late mother could see the person her son has become as an adult. “He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s kind. He has empathy,” Melissa said.

Even more so than his personality, the Fashion Police alum said Joan would be thrilled to see her grandson following in their comedic footsteps — and using his humor to drive Melissa up the wall, as she once did to Joan.

“I think what would make her the happiest is the fact, what is the old saying? ‘I hope you have children that turn out just like you.’ … She would be so pleased that I have had that come true,” Melissa said.

She added, “He has a great sense of humor, and I think she would be so excited to see all the things I did, especially at that age, to torture her. I’m getting it back in spades.”

Melissa has previously spoken about wishing she had more children, and has even considered adopting. However, during an April 2022 appearance on the Behind The Velvet Rope podcast, she shared that she was hesitant to commit to parenting a child in her 50s.

“I’m sure I could make it work, but I’ve really come to the conclusion that I’m not sure it would be fair to a child,” she said. “You have to check yourself and put someone else’s needs in front of what you or someone else, in front of what you want.”

She added, “Do I still want it? 100%. Do I think it is the right thing to do? I’m not sure anymore. And believe me, I’ve cried a lot at night with that realization.”

Melissa was with Joan in her final moments

When Joan passed away at 81 years old in September 2014, Melissa was with her for her final moments. While she battled complications from an endoscopic surgery, her daughter kept vigil at her bedside at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

After it became clear Joan’s condition had deteriorated past the point of return, Melissa made the difficult decision to take her mother off the ventilator, per Joan’s wishes expressed in her living will.

“I believe she knew I was there,” Melissa told PEOPLE in April 2015. “I was grateful to have had those few days to be able to let go a little bit. I tried to make the transition as peaceful and beautiful as she would want it to be.”

Reflecting on what she would say to her mom in the months following her death, Melissa shared, “I’d say, ‘I love you. I miss you. You have no idea how much you meant to Cooper. And we’re okay. We’re going to be okay.’ ”

Melissa played her mother in Joy

In David O. Russell’s 2015 film Joy, inspired by real-life entrepreneur Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence), Melissa joined the cast to act out a scene portraying her late mother during a taping of her QVC show.

“It was David’s idea,” Melissa said. “I literally one day got a call saying David O. Russell would like to meet you. Huh? What?”

She continued, “I thought, ‘Seriously, when am I ever going to get to work with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell?’ I was like, ‘Okay, I’m in.’ ”

Melissa is already a spitting image of her mother, but when she had to undergo a transformation to look exactly like Joan, she felt unnerved. “I think I was more freaked out in the hair and makeup tests than I was once I got on set,” Melissa said. “It was bizarre. I stopped looking in a mirror.”

She married Steve Mitchel in 2025

Though she once told PEOPLE she wouldn’t get married again after her marriage to her first husband ended in 2003, Melissa walked down the aisle once more in March 2025 at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Melissa and her husband, Steve Mitchel, met at a Didi Hirsch mental health event, during which he asked for her number. The pair went on a date, and though Melissa revealed they almost didn’t make it to a second because of the shoes he chose for their first, the former Fashion Police co-host couldn’t resist agreeing to see him again.

After a year and a half of dating, Mitchel proposed to Melissa during a November 2023 vacation in Mexico, having asked for Cooper’s blessing in advance.

The television host told PEOPLE her favorite thing about Mitchel is his steady presence.

“If he says he’s going to be somewhere, he’s there. If he says he’s going to call, he calls,” she said. “For someone like me, who has lived such a chaotic life — not by choice, mind you — it’s so wonderful to be in a relationship where I never question and never worry.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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