American comedienne and TV host Joan Rivers has passed on this evening, aged 81, after being taken off a life support machine at Mount Sinai hospital in New York. She is survived by a daughter, Melissa Rosenberg.

Melissa stated that ”My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon.”

Rivers had stopped breathing during a procedure on her vocal chords at an outpatient clinic last week and was taken to Mount Sinai hospital where she was placed on the life support machine.

The 81-year old, whose real name was Joan Alexandra Molinsky, was best known as the host of TV show ”Fashion Police” and won an Emmy award in 1990 for ‘Outstanding Talk Show Host’ on ‘The Joan Rivers Show’.