Joan Rivers Wanted Funeral With All the Glitter of a Hollywood Premiere

Joan Rivers lived for the red carpet. She’s pictured here with daughter Melissa at the 77th Annual Academy Awards. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

Rivers’ funeral will be held Sunday (Sept. 7) at a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she lived for many years.

No further details of the funeral have been made public, but Rivers said in her July 2014 memoir, “Diary of a Mad Diva,” that she hoped her funeral would be like a Hollywood film premiere.

“Lights, cameras, action! I want craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene,” she wrote in the book. Sales have spiked 60,000 percent since her death and her final book now occupies the No. 2 position on amazon.com. (see below)

“I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents. I don’t want a eulogy; I want Bobby Vinton to pick up my head and sing ‘Mr. Lonely.'”

Rivers had also previously said she wanted to be cremated.

Despite her feisty image, Joan confessed that she considered committing suicide after her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, killed himself in 1987. It was one of the darkest periods in he life.

She had just lost her Fox late night show, which only lasted a year on the air. Edgar had been fired as her producer. At the time, Melissa wasn’t speaking to her, and Joan had gotten fired from a string of jobs.

A distraught Rivers said she also contemplated suicide and sat one night with a gun in her lap. But her suicidal thoughts were snapped after her dog abruptly jumped in her lap.

Joan said she was worried that if she killed herself, no one would take care of her dog, according to her book.

Joan went on to lecture on depression and suicide. She encouraged depressed people to remember that life goes on and tough times don’t last forever.

“I tell people this is a horrible, awful dark moment, but it will change,” she said. “You must know it’s going to change and you push forward. I look back and think, ‘Life is great, life goes on.'”

Books by Joan Rivers: Click Titles to Purchase

Diary of a Mad Diva Joan Rivers at her best… complaining. I Hate Everyone…Starting with Me Joan Rivers speaks out on everything she hates. Like people who think giving birth is a unique achievement. Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery It’s Hollywood’s biggest night, and there’s no star better equipped than the tart-tongued Max Taylor to hold court on the glamorous Red Carpet. Bouncing Back : I’ve Survived Everything…and I Mean Everything…and You Can Too! With inspirational thoughts with humor, Joan describes how she overcame a series of personal tragedies and setbacks, including her husband’s suicide, financial disaster, and estrangement from her daughter. Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs Joan is uniquely qualified to talk about plastic surgery — because she’s one of the few celebrities unafraid to admit to the world what she’s “had done.”

Having a Baby Can Be a Scream Rare Joan Rivers from early in her career. Expect to pay a premium for this book. Don’t Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit! Joan Rivers tells the whole truth about how women feel when it comes to getting older. Filled with the latest information on anti-aging breakthroughs. From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love, and Marriage Based on a letter to her daughter Melissa, Joan Rivers writes about a series of highly personal but universal truths involving relationships. The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz An “unauthorized biography” of the comedienne’s free-living childhood friend, this intimate profile discloses Heidi’s deepest, darkest secrets. Jewelry by Joan Rivers Joan Rivers’ love and knowledge of jewelry is reflected in the pieces she designs for her own collection, hundreds of which are reproduced here in specially commissioned full-color photos.