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Joan Rivers has died at the age of 81.
Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, released the following statement:
.@Joan_Rivers has died. Here's the statement from her daughter, @MelRivers: pic.twitter.com/VjFtF3RL6Y
— Gio Benitez (@GioBenitez) September 4, 2014
The comedian was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital last week after going into cardiac arrest during a routine procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy on the Upper East Side. She was placed on life support this week, before being moved out of the ICU earlier Wednesday.
A prolific television presence, Rivers created and hosted Live from the Red Carpet for the E! Network from 1996 to 2004, and later returned to anchor Fashion Police, during which she doled out biting critiques of celebrity style.
But before her multimillion dollar deal with the entertainment network, Rivers dominated talk shows and bookshelves with her comedy work. Born in Brooklyn as Joan Alexandra Molinsky, Rivers took her stage name in the late 1950s, doing stand-up and small plays in dingy clubs and cafes in New York City. She became an overnight sensation after a magnetic guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1965, which led to appearances on other '60s favorites like The Ed Sullivan Show as well as her own daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers.