Joan Rivers Was First and Foremost a Loving Mother and Grandmother

As tributes continue to pour in for Joan Rivers, who passed away at the age of 81 on Sept. 4, most are understandably focused on her successful career as a comedienne. But lest we forget, the raucous entertainer took great pride in her role as a mother and grandmother.

If you need proof of how much Joan loved daughter Melissa and grandson Cooper, just head over to the entertainer's Instagram account. The page is littered with throwback photos of her 46-year-old partner-in-crime and heartfelt words about her teenage grandson.

"#GrandmaWeek! Simply the best! #joanrivers #italy," Joan captioned the below photo with Cooper on July 16.

Despite her high-profile career, Joan was adamant about being a hands-on mom. “When I was pregnant I was sitting with a very famous actress on the playground," the writer once recalled. "The child fell and ran to the nanny. At that point I decided my child would always run to me."

“I am not only so proud of everything [Melissa] has accomplished professionally, but I am proud of her because she is the most amazing mother I have ever seen in my entire life. She is 1,000 times better than I am. I am always astonished at how she handles [Cooper],” Joan told The Huffington Post in 2012.

Though briefly estranged after the suicide of Melissa's father, Edgar Rosenberg, the pair eventually reconciled and have worked closely together over the past two decades. They starred in the 1994 docudrama, Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, and before Joan's death, appeared on the WE reality show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?

Melissa also serves as executive producer on Joan's popular E! show, Fashion Police. Of working with her mother, the only child said, “You have to learn to listen and communicate differently. Don’t assume they are coming from a place where they are telling you that you are doing something wrong. That was a big turning point for us to figure out.”

"Every time we have a big fight, though, I just strip naked and say, 'One day, you’re going to look like this,' and that just kills her," the matriarch told Michigan Avenue magazine about their close bond. "We’re very lucky. We have a very good mother-daughter relationship."

Quotes credited to both Huffington Post and Michigan Avenue magazine.