EXCLUSIVE: Two blowouts a day, a personal trainer and a standing appointment with her plastic surgeon every six months: Joan Rivers' goddaughter reveals secret side of star who just wanted to be Mrs Rosenberg

  • Tracie Hotchner tells how the star was in great shape, adding 'She was at the pinnacle of personal and professional happiness'
  • Joan last wrote to her: 'Third acts suck, but fourth acts are marvelous'
  • 'She offered me all kinds of surgery, I said no thank-you! She thought it was the greatest gift you could give'
  • Tracie reveals Joan bought lipsosuction for an assistant and friends for Christmas, saying 'They were thrilled!' 
  • Joan leaves a will, now estimated in excess of $150m with 'clear provision' for her dogs
  • The star insisted on being known as 'Mrs Rosenberg' in private and was proud of her marriage and daughter 

The heartbroken goddaughter of Joan Rivers has given a fascinating glimpse into the secret life of the star who just wanted to be known as Mrs Rosenberg.

In the days before her death, as the legendary comedienne lay wrapped in a faux mink blanket in her hospital bed at Manhattan's Mount Sinai hospital, with her daughter Melissa, grandson Cooper and friends by her side, Tracie Kotchner could not bring herself to see her.

Instead, she says, 'I said my goodbye privately.'  

For Tracie, Joan was the woman who embraced her as one of her own following the death of Tracie's mother, the woman who forced her to come over at 11pm one night in her pajamas so she could inspect a diamond ring a boyfriend had just given her - and the woman who offered her 'all kinds' of plastic surgery.

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'Jews don't horseback ride!' Tracie Kotchner, the goddaughter of Joan Rivers, pictured with Melissa Rivers as a child competing in a show. She told how Joan and her husband Edgar Rosenberg were baffled by their daughter's penchant for sports

'Jews don't horseback ride!' Tracie Kotchner, the goddaughter of Joan Rivers, pictured with Melissa Rivers as a child competing in a show. She told how Joan and her husband Edgar Rosenberg were baffled by their daughter's penchant for sports

My godmother: Joan Rivers with her goddaughter Tracie Hotchner (center), several years ago, at a dog-friendly book party for The Dog Bible. Tracie's sister Holly is (left) 

My godmother: Joan Rivers with her goddaughter Tracie Hotchner (center), several years ago, at a dog-friendly book party for The Dog Bible. Tracie's sister Holly is (left) 

In a revealing interview with MailOnline, Tracie, 63, told how she first met Joan in 1971 in Los Angeles when she interviewed for a job as the assistant for Joan's husband, Edgar Rosenberg.

And she says that despite being 81 at the time of her death on September 4, Joan was in fine fettle, adding: 'She worked out all the time with a trainer, she used to pretend she wasn't, but she was in great shape. And her mental quickness was dazzling, her mind and her mouth went on so much faster than yours, she was on to the next thing before you finished laughing. 

'I watched her two months ago performing in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and it was the most extraordinary thing I had ever seen. She was nimble and athletic, she did this whole comedy routine on top of a piano and fell off like a gymnast.'

For Tracie, this remains the most heartbreaking thing. 

'Joan used to talk about people's time being up, but her time seemed so far from being up,' she says.

'She was at the pinnacle of professional and personal happiness, she was the most energized, that's the part that's really hard to swallow.'

'The only thing that gives me comfort is that she didn't suffer one second, she went out at the absolute top and never knew a moment of suffering.' 

I called Joan when I finally had fillers and she said "I'm so proud of you....now, what next?" 
- Tracie Hotchner, Joan Rivers' goddaughter 

It would have been unthinkable for Joan to lose her famous lightning wit, Tracie says, 'To have her mental agility taken away from her, which would have happened with age, that would have been a humiliation and a frustration.'

When Tracie first met Joan and her husband Edgar they were all recent transplants from the East Coast. 'We were all fish out of water', Tracie says.

'Joan and Edgar were plunked down in this alien landscape as was I. I had no skills, I had gone out there to be an actress and I was starting to be a writer. A friend said Edgar was looking for a secretary.

'I had no idea who Joan was, but I went to their house for an interview, they were both dressed beautifully and they started asking me these questions "How fast do you type?", I said "I don't know how to type, but I could learn quickly", they said "Do you have shorthand?" I said "What's shorthand?!" I said "I write really fast" and they sort of laughed and then I said "I can answer the phone, I've practiced my whole life!"'

From then on, the Rosenbergs took Tracie to Vegas every weekend, where Joan was performing, and she helped to look after Melissa, whom she adored. One night at dinner, she told how her mother had died when she was young and said: 'Joan turned it into a godmother dinner, we elected ourselves, and Joan became my godmother and I became Melissa's godmother, she reveals.

'Joan was the most loving, giving, maternal person. If she met somebody who needed something, she would solve it, she'd say "let me give you this."'

Joan and Edgar were 'devoted' to each other, especially in California, where 'it was them against the world'. And in her private life, Joan insisted on being called Mrs Rosenberg to everyone.

Mr and Mrs Rosenberg: Joan Rivers, pictured in the 1980s with her husband, manager and producer Edgar Rosenberg and their daughter Melissa. Edgar left his family devastated when he took his life in 1987

Mr and Mrs Rosenberg: Joan Rivers, pictured in the 1980s with her husband, manager and producer Edgar Rosenberg and their daughter Melissa. Edgar left his family devastated when he took his life in 1987

'The three musketeers': Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers and Joan's beloved grandson Cooper during an appearance on ABC's Celebrity Wife Swap last year

'The three musketeers': Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers and Joan's beloved grandson Cooper during an appearance on ABC's Celebrity Wife Swap last year

Tracie, who is the daughter of A. E. Hotchner, who founded Newman's Own Inc. with his friend and neighbor, actor Paul Newman, said: 'The laundress, the doorman, their staff - everyone called Joan 'Mrs Rosenberg'. When the phone was answered it was 'Rosenberg residence'.

'Joan was a real person, she didn't become a caricature out of a movie and she was very proud of her marriage and her child and her life and that was taken away from her far too quickly.

 'If you only saw her perform, she could be brash, crass and vulgar - but I knew the real Joan to be somebody different.' 

As their daughter Melissa took a shine to horseback riding and sports, Tracie said: 'We went to Lake Tahoe, we went skiing together and rode horses and Joan and Edgar would turn to each other and say  "Jews don't do these things.....we have NO idea where she gets it from!"'

The transition to west coast living wasn't easy for Joan and Edgar. 

'This was the 70s in California and people didn't have a clue,' Tracie says: 'Joan and Edgar didn't fit in at all. People wore tracksuits to parties and pulled something from their closets for the red carpet.

'But Edgar was the most British of British men, he was so nattily dressed. '

As for Joan, Tracie adds: 'I would often sit in her bathroom and watch her do her make-up - she did her own makeup, but she had a hairdresser every single day, sometimes twice a day. I'm so thrifty that I asked her "Can't you just fluff it yourself?" but she believed she had to look 110 per cent on and off the stage.'

Soon, the dynamic blonde also had a 'standing six month appointment' with her plastic surgeon, Tracie reveals, laughing: 'I would ask "What are you having done?" and she would say "Whatever I feel like."'

When Tracie met Joan, the star had only had a nose job, but increasingly turned to the surgeon's knife, and Tracie admits: 'It would never be enough, she thought it was great. I would try and see the Joan I knew inside this face she had created, it didn't look like her.

'When I first knew her she had a narrow face and it became all rounded out and filled out, but it made her happy.

‘She had very good bone structure and cheek bones, she was a good looking woman, she tried to sound like she was this homely, discarded female, but she really wasn't.

'She offered me all kinds of surgery, I said no thank-you! She thought it was the greatest gift you could give somebody, to improve somebody.'

Indeed, Tracie reveals: 'Joan once bought an assistant and a couple of other friends liposuction for Christmas, adding: 'They were thrilled!'

And when Tracie finally went for fillers for frown lines around her mouth that were costly and painful, she said, I called Joan and she said "I'm so proud of you, now, what next?!"' 

Pet lover: Joan seen with one of her dogs, Teegan, earlier this year. Her goddaughter Tracie Hotchner has revealed how the beloved comic left 'clear provision' for her pets in her will

Pet lover: Joan seen with one of her dogs, Teegan, earlier this year. Her goddaughter Tracie Hotchner has revealed how the beloved comic left 'clear provision' for her pets in her will

Beloved: Joan with Teegan and Samantha. The star's will is believed to exceed $150 million

Beloved: Joan with Teegan and Samantha. The star's will is believed to exceed $150 million

Joan and Tracie were so close - and indeed, Joan was so obsessed with jewelry - that Tracie recalls: 'I had a number of men in my life who gave me jewelry, and Joan loved jewelry and fashion, she just loved it. One night, I called her after I was given a ring and she said "Oh my God, I've got to see it!"

'It's 11pm at night, she lived in Bel Air and it was a 30-minute drive from where I lived and she made me get in the car, in my pajamas, and come over. Thank God it was worth it, it got her seal of approval. She said "You deserve it, wear it all the time."'

When Edgar, who managed Joan and produced her ill-fated Fox late-night show, took his own life in 1987, Tracie told how Joan worked tirelessly to build her life and fortune back up.

She turned a QVC collaboration into a billion-dollar business, was in talks with friend Andy Cohen to star in a new show called Ask Joan - and performed the night before she went in for a throat procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy clinic that led to cardiac arrest and her eventual death.

 The very last thing Joan wrote to me was "Third acts suck, but fourth acts are marvelous"...that's the truth of her life
- Tracie Hotchner, Joan Rivers' goddaughter 

Tracie, who went on to pen the script for the movie Mommie Dearest and is now a radio host, says: 'Joan lost everything and had to get it back again. But she was always about the other person, she would ask 'how are you?' she'd remember things in your life.' 

Joan and Tracie mainly kept in touch via email. Tracie now wonders whether it was perhaps to rest Joan's voice over the last few months

And Tracie recalls: 'The very last thing Joan wrote to me, she wrote to ask about some challenges, some family health issues, and she wrote: 'Third acts suck, but fourth acts are marvelous, hang in there.

'That's the truth of her life. There were sucky times, but she forged ahead, she kept finding things she could be good at and the success came from that. That's a really great message.' 

Tracie - who last week told MailOnline how Joan had left her fortune, now believed to exceed $150 million to Melissa and Cooper - as well as 'clear provision' for her four rescue dogs who will now be cared for by the star's longtime assistant Jocelyn Pickett - said: 'Joan loved her life right now, she felt loved by the world, which meant so much to her as a performer and a comedienne because there had been times she didn't feel that love.'

Named: MailOnline revealed that throat specialist to the stars Dr Gwen Korovin was in attendance when Joan had a throat procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy Center in NYC on August 28, followed by a biopsy that is believed to have led to cardiac arrest

Named: MailOnline revealed that throat specialist to the stars Dr Gwen Korovin was in attendance when Joan had a throat procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy Center in NYC on August 28, followed by a biopsy that is believed to have led to cardiac arrest

Stars: Dr Korovin's patients include singer Celine Dion, Hugh Jackman, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. She's seen here in a Celine Dion documentary

Stars: Dr Korovin's patients include singer Celine Dion, Hugh Jackman, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. She's seen here in a Celine Dion documentary

Tracie, who attended Joan's star-studded Manhattan funeral on September 7, now plans to visit Melissa and Cooper in Los Angeles, saying: 'It's such a raw time, she has so many demands on her. When it's the right time, I'll go out to California.

MailOnline yesterday named throat specialist to the stars Dr Gwen Korovin as Joan's specialist, who was in the room as she had her endoscopy and an unscheduled biopsy that is believed to have led to cardiac arrest.

But asked whether she felt the family should take any legal action, Tracie said: 'I can't speak for Melissa, but I don't think that suing doctors brings any kind of relief.' 

It was when she returned to her home in Vermont that Tracie had the clearest message that Joan was still watching over her.

'I came back from the funeral and there were flowers. The only person who ever sent me flowers was Joan. On my birthday, or when something good or really bad happened. She would write, 'Melissa, Cooper and I are thinking about you always'. They were the three musketeers.'

Breaking down, Tracie said: ''The flowers were from a friend who knew how much I loved Joan, and I began to cry. Nobody else had that level of caring.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

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