Joan Rivers' life shows us there’s no limit to what women can accomplish when they take charge of their own destiny. A conversation with award-winning journalist, bestselling author and Rivers' biographer, Leslie Bennetts.
The following is an excerpt of the full conversation with Leslie Bennetts, bestselling author and Joan Rivers' biographer, on how there is no limit to what women can accomplish when they take charge of their own destiny.
Leslie Bennetts: As a longtime journalist, I’ve spent decades listening to women confide their deepest secrets, and many of their biggest problems involve the lack of money. It’s hard to recover from divorce or start over as a widow when you can’t support yourself. Aging brings more challenges, and twice as many older women end up poor compared with men.
Although financial dependency can be devastating, women’s working lives are complicated by child-rearing and other caregiving responsibilities. In today’s world of longer lifespans, rapid change and little job security, many people need to reinvent their lives and careers at some point, but this can be difficult to do.
For years I’ve traveled all over the world speaking and writing about women’s economic empowerment issues while searching for new ways to help people. When I started writing a biography of Joan Rivers, I was surprised to find a powerful inspiration in an unexpected source. I knew she broke new ground for women in the entertainment industry, but I didn’t realize what a remarkable role model she is for every woman, no matter what her circumstances. After decades of success, Rivers’ life was professionally, financially and emotionally ruined when she was in her mid-50’s. Her husband killed himself, leaving her $37 million in debt; she couldn’t find work to support herself; and she felt so hopeless she considered suicide.
But her motto was “Never give up!” — and so she reinvented her career, found new love and built a billion-dollar business in her 60s and 70s. Her amazing comeback is a blueprint for success that can help anyone — and her indomitable spirit is an inspiration for us all. It was a privilege to tell such an uplifting story in Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses and Liberation of Joan Rivers. As Rivers’ story illustrates, there’s no limit to what women can accomplish when they take charge of their own destiny.
Life presents everyone with challenges, whatever their individual journey, and we can all benefit from valuable information and guidance as well as new hope — so let’s start the conversation!
