Joan Rivers Had Heart Condition That 'Scared the Hell' Out of Her

Joan Lunden interviewed Rivers about her heart condition in 1985

Published on September 6, 2014 08:00 AM

As the investigation continues into the circumstances surrounding Joan Rivers’s death following a routine outpatient procedure, a video clip has surfaced in which the legendary comedian confesses her concerns about anesthesia – and reveals she has a heart condition.

In 1985, Rivers appeared on Good Morning America, where Joan Lunden asked about her heart arrhythmia, a condition in which the heart unexpectedly beats out of sync.

“All of a sudden you’ll be on stage and hear ‘tha-thud!’ It scares the hell out of me,” Rivers tells Lunden in the video below.

Rivers then goes on to explain that the condition poses a very specific concern.

“When you go under, say for plastic surgery or something like that, that’s when your heart can go out of kilter. So I’m always very careful,” she says.

Despite the eerily prescient comments, Rivers was quick to return to the wisecracks that made her so beloved.

As Lunden points out that crash-dieting also posed a risk to Rivers’s heart condition, the comedian agrees, but admits that she wasn’t about to change her ways.

“I diet all the time,” Rivers says. “If ketchup dropped on one of your children, you should not leave her in the room alone with me. I will eat anything.”

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