Save your jokes! Melissa Rivers is well aware of the ridicule that often accompanies a second-generation entertainer’s career. ‘I still get it,’ says Rivers, the daughter of comedienne Joan Rivers. ‘It’s a struggle every day. You hear it and you just have to ignore it and let your work speak for itself.’ Rivers’ first book, ‘Red Carpet Ready: Secrets for Making the Most of Any Moment You’re in the Spotlight,’ is a breezy mix of blunt advice, life lessons, and anecdotal memoir. The longtime resident of Pacific Palisades will sign the just-released book at Village Books on Swarthmore on Friday, February 26 at 7:30 p.m. ‘I think they’re surprised finding out who I am,’ Rivers tells the Palisadian-Post regarding those who have already read ‘Red Carpet Ready.’ ‘It’s fun. I hope it’s an easy read.’ The Post caught up with Rivers last Friday, just prior to Valentine’s Day, as she was knee-deep in doing publicity, starting with a playful appearance on KTLA Morning News and ending with a signing at the Grove’s Barnes & Noble. You don’t have to work in entertainment to relate to her trials and tribulations, she says. ‘I’ve had my red-carpet moments, too,’ Rivers writes in ‘Red Carpet.’ ‘I’ve failed publicly. I’ve had a fairy-tale wedding. I’ve stood on camera in front of one-sixth of the world’s population and told ‘Brokeback Mountain’ jokes. ‘We’re all affected,’ Rivers, 42, tells the Post. ‘People are going to be really surprised how much we have in common. People think I live this fancy life. But my parents were very strict. I had jobs from the age of 12. My parents’ work ethic was beaten into me.’ Candid and unabashed, Rivers has no problem discussing the warts as well as the wonderful in her life. Even her book’s cover is revealing: if you’re wondering about the tattoo on her left shin (prominently on display in the dust jacket art), it’s a Celtic warrior with heart and flame. Rivers defines a ‘red-carpet moment’ as the big moments in one’s life ‘good, bad or indifferent. It’s all about how you handle it, whether it’s losing a job or running into an ex-boyfriend.’ After Rivers and her mother were unceremoniously let go from their red-carpet duties for TV Guide Channel in 2007, Rivers did some soul-searching: ‘It makes you take stock of your life, and it makes you look back and ask yourself, ‘What am I gonna do now? How could I’ve handle things differently?” Professionally, Rivers has often teamed up with her brash, tart-tongued mother. In 1994, the pair portrayed themselves in an autobiographical television movie. For 12 years, they conducted red-carpet interviews at various awards ceremonies for E! and TV Guide. The mother-and-daughter duo also appeared on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ in 2009. Independently, Rivers has appeared on ABC’s ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’ ‘We work in a business where you might get in the door once because of a connection,’ Rivers continues. ‘Then you have to prove yourself.’ Her answer to her critics accusing her of coat-tailing is: ‘If I’m as bad as they said I am, why am I still working today?’ She credits Cooper, 9, for helping her evolve her worldview. ’It’s kind of a clich’ when people say having kids changes everything but it really does,’ Rivers says. ‘It changes your priority what’s important, what matters.’ ‘Everyone was telling me I should write a book,’ says Rivers, whose book is a result of ‘my time away from the red carpet. I thought a lot about it. What did I learn?’ ‘Red Carpet Ready’ is brimming with personal moments. Such as the time she was at a dinner party, where guests were passionately discussing ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ only to realize that one of those fanatics was Al Pacino, great actor of his generation. They bonded over ‘Dancing’ and now ‘he’s my pal Al,’ Rivers writes. ‘The point is, he’s a normal person. He doesn’t act like a guy who’s won an Oscar, been nominated seven other times, and acted with Brando in ‘The Godfather.” Rivers cites Shoshanna Lonstein, who rose to fame as a teen when she dated Jerry Seinfeld, as a role model for moving on. (After splitting from the comedian, Lonstein created a fashion line, married, and started a family.) Rivers also labels the sense of entitlement embraced by young Hollywood as the ‘Divine Right of Bling’ and warns that attitude can end careers. With passages topped by such section headers as ‘Live With the Masses, Eat With the Classes’ and ‘When Your Nipple Shows, Smile,’ Rivers peppers her entertainment-industry experiences with humor to offer tips on staying grounded that transcend the show-biz superficial. Appreciating yourself, counting your blessings, and appreciating other people inform the book’s subtext. She credits her co-writer, Tim Vandehey, for helping to pull it all together. ‘I’m the one who insisted he be on the cover,’ she says. ‘He didn’t care.’ Rivers enjoyed the project and wants to author a follow-up about being a single parent. Melissa Rivers grew up in Bel-Air and attended high school in Sherman Oaks. In 1989, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. A decade later, she married horse breeder John Endicott. The couple had Cooper, who goes by his middle name (his first name is Edgar, after Rivers’ late father), and they divorced in 2003. Today, Rivers’ household includes Max, a border collie mix, and a Jack Russell named Lola (‘She’s got a bit of the devil in her!’). For a year, Rivers has been dating financial investor Jason Zimmermann. Among Rivers’ favorite local destinations: Elyse Walker, Mabyerry’s, Beech Street Caf’, and especially Taj Palace on Monument. Rivers enjoys playing tennis at Palisades Recreation Center and taking Cooper to the Malibu-Palisades YMCA Rivers moved to Pacific Palisades after college. ‘I came back to Los Angeles, and I really wanted to be near the beach,’ she says. ‘The Palisades was perfect. I love living here. I love the park, the restaurants, the community feel. It gives you that beach community vibe but you can get to work in time.’ Naturally, she appreciates Village Books. ‘They’re always looking for true-crime books for me,’ she says. ‘[Village Books] is the signing I’m most excited about, and I’m going to get all of my friends to show up.’ Rivers is currently producing the E! program ‘Fashion Police,’ hosted by her mother, with whom she enjoys working. ‘We have a shorthand,’ Rivers says. ‘I know her strengths and weaknesses and she knows mine. ‘We created a franchise,’ Rivers continues, regarding their red-carpet shows. ‘I guess it’s something I should be proud of. But I like looking and saying, ‘What can I do next?” Show-biz aside, is there anything in Rivers’ life in dire need of improvement? ‘My backhand volley is not so good right now,’ she says, laughing. Back to the park, Melissa!
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