Joan Rivers On and Off the Stage

I have interviewed Joan Rivers for a magazine article and found her completely and utterly unlike the persona she projects on stage. In short, she is a very nice lady who works very, very hard. In fact, she is known as the hardest working actor in show business. But she is also a mother, grandmother and animal lover.

If you have a chance to see the documentary about her life that is floating around the art movie theater circuit, do so. Because I think it does a wonderful job of portraying her as the caring and sensitive person she actually is.

Now about that animal lover. When I interviewed her she was making one of her appearances at QVC, the shopping channel on which she sells her jewelery and skin care products. And sure enough, she had a dog in tow.

When Ms. Rivers is in the house, you can be sure that the red carpet is rolled out at QVC, and we chatted in the hair and makeup studio where she was not in the least bit adverse to a reporter seeing her before and after. And on her lap was her pooch, who had his own cape and was also getting beautified.

You might think it a bit over the top, but those dogs are true sources of affection for Rivers, especially after her husband committed suicide and she became estranged from her daughter Melissa. As the documentary reveals, hers can be a very lonely life and those dogs sometimes seem like her only friends.

My point here is that pets don't care if you have makeup on or if your face has wrinkles. They love you for who you really are and sometimes they are the best camera lenses.