Melissa Rivers
This season of “Celebrity Apprentice” will once again bring together the mother/daughter team of Melissa and Joan Rivers.
Born the only child of comedienne Joan Rivers and producer Edgar Rosenberg, Melissa chose to use her mother’s stage name as her own. She attended both the John Thomas Dye School in Bel-Air and the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. In 1989, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. While there, she studied European History, graduating with Distinction in Major. After college, she worked as an intern at CBS News in Los Angeles. She was a reporter for “CBS This Morning” and often contributed to MTV’s “Hangin’ with MTV.”
Melissa worked at E! Entertainment Television for nine years alongside her mother doing red carpet interviews and commentary. While at E!, Melissa also served as a producer and was featured in two specials – “Oh Baby! Melissa’s Guide to Pregnancy” and “Oh Toddler! Surviving the Early Years.” After Joan and Melissa left E!, they went to work on the TV Guide channel, still covering major events such as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Emmys.
On television, Melissa served as the voice of “Evil Princess Erma Plotz” in the Disney series “Dave, the Barbarian.” She has made appearances on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Silk Stalkings,” and “The L Word.”
“Celebrity Apprentice” will not be Melissa’s first venture into reality television. She appeared on ABC’s “I’m a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here!” in 2003. Melissa gave the money she won for finishing in second place on “I’m a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here!” to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This year, both Melissa and Joan appeared on NBC’s “Celebrity Family Feud.” The mother/daughter team won $50,000 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Melissa is also involved with Suicide Survivors, Heal the Bay, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Like her mother, Melissa is an active member of PETA and served in its “I’d Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur” campaign.
Melissa, herself an accomplished equestrienne, married horse breeder John Endicott in December 1999, but the marriage ended in June 2003. The couple has a son, Cooper, born in December 2000. Joan says that being Cooper’s grandmother is her most joyous accomplishment.
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