Comedy diva Joan Rivers suffers cardiac arrest

Daughter Melissa Rivers said that her mother was resting comfortably after falling ill yesterday.

She did not elaborate on the 81-year-old’s condition.

She offered thanks for an outpouring of “love and support” and asked for continuing thoughts and prayers.

The Mount Sinai Hospital did not immediately respond to request for comment today.

Hospital spokesman Sid Dinsay confirmed yesterday that Rivers had been taken there in the morning. New York City police officials said she was taken to the hospital just after 9.30am yesterday. It was unclear why she was visiting the doctor’s office.

The comedian with 50 years of showbusiness under her belt has spawned a reputation for often-critical red carpet fashion commentary.

A show she had scheduled today at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, has been postponed.

Rivers spoke at an employee event at Time in New York on Wednesday night and appeared healthy, practically jogging when she walked in to take her seat, Shira Blum, an online project manager, said.

An early and outspoken proponent of cosmetic surgery, Rivers has drastically altered her appearance over the years - and found plenty of material for jokes. (“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware.”)

The host of Fashion Police on E! network, Rivers also presides over an online talk show In Bed With Joan and co-stars with her daughter on the WEtv reality show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?

Her latest book, Diary of a Mad Diva,was released this summer. She has written 12 best-selling memoirs and humerous books. Her trademark acerbic style which has sometimes attracted critcism most recently when she came under fire for saying Palestinians deserve to be dead.