Joan Rivers scattered the ashes of a close friend over the grounds of Highgrove – after receiving permission from Prince Charles. In an exclusive interview with HELLO! magazine, the world-famous comedienne says that she asked permission from the Prince after visiting him at his country home in Gloucestershire. "I was at Highgrove and I said that my friend Tommy had died, and I said, ‘May I scatter some of his ashes in the garden?’ " she told HELLO! "He was in shock." But he said, "Certainly.’ I had them in a bag so Tommy is scattered there."
Joan was interviewed alongside her daughter Melissa, whose Los Angeles home she recently relocated to from New York – the subject of her latest reality show, Joan and Melissa: Joan knows Best?. Photographs of the beautiful five-bedroom Malibu house they now share accompany the interview. "I really wanted to be with my family," she said of the move. “It’s been tough on Melissa, it’s a big adjustment. We’ve not lived together since she left for college. "But I love that we’re a family. It got to the point in my life when so many people I knew were dying. "At my college reunion, the women were dancing with urns. "And her grandson, Cooper, was a big part of why she decided to leave New York. "I was looking at a picture of Cooper and I said, ‘I want to be in the pictures, not looking at them,’" she explains.
Speaking about her legendary penchant for plastic surgery, she says: "If you can do it and feel good, do it. I’m old school, I believe that if you’re in the public eye you should look good. "And you can’t criticize other people if you don’t.”And she recollects the aftermath of the tragic suicidal death of her late husband, Edgar Rosenberg in 1987 – saying she was glad she went through the bereavement in the public eye. "When Edgar committed suicide and all America knew, I’d be walking through an airport at 2am and a stranger would say me, ‘I just lit a candle for you' " she recalls. “You’re embraced by people who feel for you." To read more of the interview with Joan and Melissa, including their thoughts on the Duchess of Cambridge and Russell Brand, and how they got over a huge argument which almost ruined their relationship, pick up the latest copy of HELLO! SEE THE FULL EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE IN HELLO! MAGAZINE, ISSUE 1197, OUT NOW.