Joan Rivers may have joked about how she wanted a huge funeral with celebrities and paparazzi galore, but her family has decided that it would be better to have a small, private funeral on Sunday.
The private funeral will take place at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish synagogue in New York, the synagogue director’s office told E! News. No press will be there and it is closed to the general public. Attendees will be invited.
Following her death on Thursday at the age of 81, a passage from her memoir, I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me, went around the world, in which she described what she wanted her funeral to be like. As Fox News notes, she wrote:
“When I die (and yes, Melissa, that day will come; and yes, Melissa, everything’s in your name), I want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action … I want Craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don’t want some rabbi rambling on; I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents. I don’t want a eulogy; I want Bobby Vinton to pick up my head and sing ‘Mr. Lonely.’ I want to look gorgeous, better dead than I do alive. I want to be buried in a Valentino gown and I want Harry Winston to make me a toe tag. And I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyonce’s.”
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Rivers died following complications from throat surgery. The comedy icon was remembered by late night comedians and celebrities on Instagram and Twitter. She is survived by her daughter Melissa, who frequently joked on the red carpet with her mother, and her franson, 13-year-old Cooper.
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