Seventeen years ago, my husband Edgar committed suicide. People carry on about suicide, but it's something to be faced, not something to be swept under the rug. Today, I work very hard in suicide prevention. When it happened, I never left the spotlight. I found it comforting. I understand people who go back to work the same day. I'm Jewish, so after Edgar took his life, we took a week to sit shiva. My daughter was a wreck and we went away -- you have to get your priorities right.

I get back on that horse as fast I can.

My father was a doctor and my mother was a teacher. My sister's a lawyer, but me? I never had a choice. As soon as I could put two thoughts together, I wanted to perform. My family never was supportive, but they lived to see me successful. It's enough.

When I first moved to Manhattan, I slept in my car. I did it for about a week, parked in front of the Y, where it's safe, and I'd go in to use the bathroom and shower. Eventually, I got enough money for a room. It was fine. Today, it makes a great story.

The first play I did was in Greenwich Village in the early '60s. Barbra Streisand and I played lovers and we kissed. This was before she was singing, before anything. I knew she was talented, but you never know what someone will be. She was a fabulous kisser, that's what I knew.

It was an exciting time in the Village. George Carlin was there, Richard Pryor, and there was Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Bob Dylan ... you don't ever think that these people will become something. You're just so happy to find work. I still am to this day. I get onstage and it's like walking into a temple. It's never about, "Who's going to see me?" It's always about the work.

I was an actress before I turned to comedy. I was funny, sure, my family was funny --comedy just happened. A big moment was when I left New York and moved to Chicago and joined Second City. That combined comedy with acting and writing. I was with Barbara Harris and Alan Arkin; Mike Nichols was our director. He wasn't Mike Nichols yet.

I remember I did Jack Parr's show and he didn't believe anything that I told him. I was a 20-year-old girl and we had no chemistry. Once he heard I was a girl from Westchester whose father was a doctor, he didn't believe I was selling stamps and sleeping in my car. Now Carson, we had chemistry. Oh, did we cook.

The reason I'm a survivor is because I'm willing to try everything. I directed a film with Billy Crystal and, I know what's funny, but I couldn't care less about film directing. I have no eye for the camera. I did The Apprentice, the Oscars. I was one of the first living celebrities to go on QVC! That's what they call it, living celebrities. It's better than the alternative.

You want to hear stories about Vegas in the '70s? In those days, there weren't shows, you'd see names on the marquees. When I came down Las Vegas Boulevard, it was Sammy Davis, Jr., Ann-Margret, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett. Today, it's not about the stars, it's about the pageants. But listen, I love Las Vegas. I'll play the Venetian eight times this year -- tickets are available, and please put that in your piece.

I meet the movers and shakers of the world at the Oscars and get paid for it -- that's fabulous. It started for me in 1994, Melissa, my daughter, had come over from CBS This Morning to E!, and Melissa heard them talking about wanting someone to go on the carpet and interview the stars. The producers asked, "Who'd want to do that?" And Melissa said, "My mom." We invented the carpet! We made walking into a building an event.

I'm as driven today as I was 46 years ago. If you told me to get over to Boston tonight, that I can get on something that I want to do? I'd be on my way to Boston. There's no question about it. Never was.

-Joan Rivers will host E!s Fashion Police special on Monday night. Melissa Rivers is producing the show.

As told to Ben Kaplan, National Post

Figure:

Color Photo: Handout
Joan Rivers is 76 -- 76!-- and in her long career she's kissed Streisand, directed Crystal and had a rough time with Parr.

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Document number: news·20100306·NP·0179