Joan Rivers has claimed she'd have considered committing suicide if she had been diagnosed with dementia in old age.
The 81-year-old comedienne - who passed away last week following surgical complications - was adamant she would have ended her own life if she'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which causes memory loss, confusion and disorientation, in old age.
Speaking in an interview before her death, she is quoted by The Sun newspaper as saying: ''If I get Alzheimer's disease I'm out of here. I worry I'll be on stage and tell the same joke three times. ''I don't want people to say, 'She was eating her mashed potato and putting it in her eyes.' ''
The Fashion Police host sadly died last Thursday, a week after she was placed in a medically-induced coma at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, following a cardiac and respiratory arrest while undergoing a routine operation on her vocal cords at a the private Yorkville Endoscopy clinic on August 28.
An investigation into River's death is currently underway following an inconclusive autopsy. Meanwhile, the comedy legend was laid to rest last Sunday at the Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan in front of her friends and family. Rivers has left behind her daughter Melissa Rivers, 46 - her only child - and her grandson Cooper, 13.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 