Manny King John
Wednesday, May 13, just a few days after Mothers Day, I got to attended an event hosted by THE MOMS, Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein. Cleverly titled “Mamarazzi®”, the event celebrated Television Producer, Host and celebrity parent Melissa Rivers new book, The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, And Manipulation. I was about to attend the event one of the most celebrated mother-daughter relationships, Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers. My only concern was what was I going to wear.
Getting rid of my fashion pickle, I decided that I will wear a blue dress that my mom bought me. I was running late, but in the name of fashion, I accessorized my blue silk number with my favorite leopard jeweled pin. Hysterically, I grabbed my strappy heels and flew out the door. The lunch event took place at Juniper Bar, which is only a hop-jump-skip-away from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. Thankfully, I was right on time and was actually one of the first to show up. My executive decision to put fashion first nabbed me a copy of Melissa’s new book. Woot-Woot!
After 30 minutes or so, the fans and members of THE MOMS began to fill Juniper Bar. Finally, the executive producer of Fashion Police Melissa Rivers Ms Fashion walked in began the conversation with host Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein on fashion, of giving the ladies advice on shorts. After thanking all of the moms and dads for coming out Melissa took on questions and listened to cherished memories about her late mother Joan Rivers. “It’s a funny book and it gave me permission to laugh,” said Melissa.
The first topic was the grandmother and grandchild relationship Joan had with Melissa’s son Cooper Endicott, and revealed that Joan lived with Melissa and Cooper three days out of the week. “She was his favorite accessory,” said Melissa. Melissa went on further to explained f that she believed that there was no generational gap because Joan was so involved with Coopers life. “She was a fabric of his life from day one and almost like another parent to him,” said Melissa.
As Melissa spoke about her late mother, you could see her eyes sparkled with cherished memories. When asked about her coping with life without her mother, simply Melissa said, “What’s your choice? You have no choice, you get up and go forward.” Melissa explained that, moving forward is setting an example to your kids on how to move through difficulty. “I don’t come from a family where you sit in a puddle and you fall apart,” said Melissa.
“You give yourself a weekend and call it a weekend wallow then, Monday morning you get up and you move forward,” said Melissa.
Thanking the audience again, Melissa asked everyone to join her for a picture. Excitedly, audience members ran up to join her for a group photo op. After the picture, everybody gathered around Melissa as she signed books and joined others to take a selfie. So I took a deep breath, shoved my way past a short woman and said “Hi Melissa, can I take a picture with you?”
Melissa said, “Now, this everyone, is a fashion do!”, and she took a picture with me and even signed my book.
Later that night, I called my mom to thank her for the blue dress she got me and told her how I got to meet Melissa Rivers.
