Joan Rivers, the renowned comedienne who died on Thursday after undergoing throat surgery last week, was worth an estimated $150 million at the time of her death, Maximum Threshold reported. But, the star's finances and personal life weren't always so sound.
Rivers was undergoing surgery on her vocal cords at a clinic in New York City on Aug. 28 when she stopped breathing and was brought to Mount Sinai Hospital. She was on life support and couldn't breathe on her own over the Labor Day weekend. Rivers was taken off life support on Thursday afternoon.
When Fox offered her a talk show airing opposite "The Tonight Show" in 1986, Johnny Carson never spoke to her again and forbid her from the show, along with guests of Rivers' show. Jimmy Fallon was the first host to allow her to return during his first episode this year, according to NBC News.
"The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers," was short-lived and the network fired Rivers and her husband when she challenged the decision to fire him from his position as a producer of the show. Rosenberg, her husband, committed suicide in 1987. At the time, Rivers was broke, estranged from her daughter and contemplated suicide.
But Rivers was always able to rebound and reinvent herself, bringing her back into multi-millionaire status. Her daytime program, "The Joan Rivers Show," became a hit and won her an Emmy in 1990. Through the 1990's, she began selling jewelry on QVC. This was her biggest source of income, which helped her to rake in an estimated $50 million per year.
She and her daughter, Melissa, starred in a movie that dramatized their lives and brought on their partnership on E! as fashion and red carpet commentators, also in the 1990's. Rivers appeared on several TV shows, such as "Nip/Tuck," "Celebrity Apprentice," and "Suddenly Susan," according to NBC News.
She sold her country house in Connecticut and then her Manhattan penthouse apartment in 2013. Her Connecticut home was sold for $4.4 million and the penthouse for $29.5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
