Melissa Rivers is holding a Thanksgiving dinner in honor of her beloved mother Joan at the late, great comedienne’s dazzling Upper East Side apartment.
Continuing a tradition that Joan carried out every year, Melissa is hosting a group of close friends and relatives at her mom’s opulent condo, which Joan once described as “where Marie Antoinette would have lived if she had the money.”
Joan died in September at the age of 81, and it has been reported that Melissa has kept Joan’s apartment exactly as it was in her memory.
A source said, “Melissa is hosting the dinner in honor of Joan, and to continue a tradition she did every year. Joan would welcome her friends, relatives and anyone who might not have family members in New York to a Thanksgiving dinner at her home.
“Her table seats 50 people, and each year everyone had to stand up and tell the table what they were thankful for. This year, it will be sad without Joan, but Melissa wants the occasion to be a happy one, to remember her mother and everything she did for other people.”
Among the guests in years past who may be on the list are Joan’s grandson Cooper, her niece Caroline Waxler, “Joan Knows Best” comic and actress Lynne Koplitz, and Vanity Fair’s Nancy Jo Sales.
Joan’s dazzling $35 million, 5,000-square-foot penthouse features gold pillars, gold-lined walls, gleaming chandeliers and stacks of index cards with jokes from her long career. Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Khadafy allegedly once asked to rent the penthouse in 2009 for $200,000 a week. Joan said at the time, “I thought it was great. I said I would give half the rent to Lockerbie [and the other half] to have an exterminator come and clean the apartment when he was done.”
Joan’s spokeswoman, Judy Katz, confirmed Melissa was hosting a Thanksgiving celebration at the apartment in Joan’s honor but declined to comment further.