Joan Rivers<\/a>.<\/p>\nMelissa told her followers she\u2019s questioned regularly about the reasons behind Joan\u2019s moniker choice, so decided to take to her Instagram page to set the record straight. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people ask me where the name Rivers comes from. And I’m going to tell you the true and official story,\u201d she began.<\/p>\n
Despite Melissa\u2019s confident start to the video, she went on to admit she\u2019s \u201cnot really sure\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nShe said that Joan told her \u201cit was the last name of one of her managers, or that one of her managers suggested it\u201d. <\/p>\n
\nShe added: \u201cAnd it just sounded good and stuck. So there’s the big story!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJoan expanded further in a 2007 interview, as she told the Television Academy: \u201cI changed it to Joan Rivers because I wanted to be an actress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe Fashion Police star, who said she and her friends would spend \u201chours\u201d thinking about changing their own names, added: \u201cI thought, \u2018Just get me some work, I’ll change my name\u2019. The first agent that sent me out was a man named Larry Rivers and I said, \u2018Okay I’m Joan Rivers.’ \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nJoan joked that her name choice \u201cgot him so scared he never sent me out again\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nShe didn\u2019t need Larry Rivers\u2019 help though – she began to make a name for herself performing at comedy clubs in New York, and went on to earn both Emmy and Grammy Awards later in her career.<\/p>\n
\nJoan was also nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the 1994 production of Sally Marr\u2026 and Her Escorts. <\/p>\n
\nWhen it came to Melissa, her legal name is Melissa Rosenberg – her dad is producer Edgar Rosenberg. <\/p>\n
\nHowever, she made the decision in 1990 to change her surname to Rivers. <\/p>\n
\nShe explained at the time: \u201cEveryone knows my last name is Rosenberg and I think that it’s time my mom has gotten a lot of credit for what she has done.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"27 June 2026 Joan Rivers\u2019 daughter Melissa has revealed the \u201ctrue and official story\u201d about why her mum changed her name. Melissa Rivers shares reason behind mum’s name change The comedienne and presenter, who died in 2014 aged 81, was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky, but became famous as Joan Rivers. Melissa told her followers she\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":248698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5188,15821,10976,15820],"class_list":{"0":"post-248697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-joan-rivers","9":"tag-larry-rivers","10":"tag-melissa-rivers","11":"tag-melissa-rosenberg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}