Comedian Joan Rivers moved to private room from intensive care: daughter

[September 04, 2014]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedian Joan Rivers, who suffered cardiac arrest last week, has been moved out of an intensive care unit in a New York hospital and into a private room, her daughter said on Wednesday.

Rivers, 81, is "being kept comfortable" in a private room at Mount Sinai Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to her daughter, Melissa Rivers.

The comedian was placed on life support after she stopped breathing and suffered cardiac arrest during outpatient surgery on her vocal cords at a nearby clinic on Aug. 28.

"My mother has been moved out of intensive care and into a private room," Melissa Rivers said in a statement. "Thank you for your continued support."

The statement provided no further information about Rivers' medical condition and prognosis.

Rivers, who is known for her acerbic brand of humor, once described herself as the "plastic surgery poster girl" and joked about her numerous procedures.

During her lengthy career, the husky-voiced, Brooklyn-born comedian won fame for her scathing put-downs and was known for asking, "Can we talk?"

Rivers wanted to be an actress but got into comedy after writing sketches for television's "The Ed Sullivan Show." A career in stand-up followed. She later worked as a regular guest host for Johnny Carson on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

When she started her own late-night talk show in 1986, on the rival Fox network, it caused a falling-out with Carson that lasted until he died in 2005. Rivers' show was canceled after seven months.

Rivers also hosted an Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show, "The Joan Rivers Show," and later “Fashion Police,” commenting on the unfortunate red carpet choices of Hollywood celebrities.

Rivers won Donald Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice" in 2009 and has starred in the reality TV program "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?"

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Chizu Nomiyama)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.