Melissa Rivers Reveals What Heirlooms From Mom Joan Survived Wildfire

Melissa Rivers is reflecting on what she lost in the Los Angeles wildfires — none of which was her late mom Joan Rivers’ heirlooms.

“The jokes and the major archival pieces, fortunately, about two and a half, three months ago were picked up for a national comedy center,” Melissa, 56, told People in an interview published on Sunday, January 19.

Melissa noted that the filing cabinet featured over 65,000 of Joan’s original jokes from the beginning of her career in 1950 until her death in 2014. (Joan died at age 81 after experiencing complications during an outpatient throat surgery.)

Melissa added that Joan’s “good stuff,” meaning her jewelry, was in a security deposit box in a bank vault. Joan’s wardrobe has been auctioned off for charity.

Melissa, who was one of the tens of thousands of locals forced to evacuate Los Angeles due to the ongoing wildfires, told CNN on January 8 that she grabbed Joan’s Emmy and a picture of her dad, Edgar Rosenberg, before leaving her home.

“That is the end of everything that belonged to my family and the history of it,” Melissa told the news organization at the time. “I grabbed my mom’s Emmy, a photo of my dad and a drawing my mother had done of me and my son. … I went for a drawing of hers, rather than a photo. I know I can find the photos, but a drawing I can’t replace.”

Besides the items she took before leaving her home, Melissa lost her other memories of her parents.

“I had her bathrobe and my dad’s bathrobe,” she told People. “Everybody is like, ‘What about her wardrobe?’ But I’m like, I lost the only three things of theirs that I kept in my house because they reminded me so much of them.”

Melissa explained that she and her fiancé, Steve Mitchel, lost “everything,” adding, “When we say we lost everything, well you can’t get it until you see the video. It’s not just my life, but my son Cooper’s life too. We were both only children, and just all of it is gone.”

Melissa, who welcomed son Cooper, 24, with John Endicott in 2000, said her life is inside three L.L. Bean boat totes. Melissa noted that she and her family are doing “as well as can be expected.”

“We’re all doing the best we can,” she said. “Cooper’s made of the same tough stuff I am. And we are all leaning on each other and coping.”

Now, Melissa has found temporary housing and is embracing her inherited sense of humor while she and her family navigate what’s next. “It’s my superpower,” she said of laughing during the worst times, like Joan. “I am my parents’ daughter.”

Check the LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.