Chelsea Handler regrets the way she treated Joan Rivers when the iconic comedian was alive.
The former ‘Chelsea Lately’ hostess, 47, spoke to the daughter of the late ‘Fashion Police’, Melissa Rivers, on Friday about crossing paths with Joan in the past.
“Your mom wanted to approach me a few times while we were on E!, and I just felt like it because I just kind of blew her away,” Handler explained in the “Melissa Rivers’ Group Text” podcast.
“I was disrespectful in the way I realized I had to be now,” she admitted.
However, Handler seemed to make up for it by honoring Joan at the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival in May.
“I was so excited about the chance to do it — to say those things in front of everyone,” said the stand-up comedian. “You have to remember that for every chance that someone in this world gets as a female comedian, you have to thank the people for you.”
Handler noted that when she started her own talk show on E! had, she was “so young” and “arrogant” and thought she [her]herself” her success.
“I didn’t give her the compliments she deserved, so I was eager to put that in writing,” the “Chelsea Does” star said of Joan, who died in 2014 at age 81.
Melissa, 54, admitted she went “bananas” when she learned that Handler had been chosen to induct her mother at the Netflix festival. However, she was very moved by the speech of the former ‘Chelsea’ presenter and thought Handler would get along well with Joan.
Handler’s public feud with Melissa’s mother began in 2012 with a “Howard Stern Show” appearance.
The “Are you there, vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea,” the author asked Howard Stern, “What the hell do I care about Joan Rivers? I never think about her.” Handler’s dig came during the peak success of her E! show, which ran from 2007 to 2014.
Joan then responded by calling Handler a “drunk” and a “whore”, telling Stern, 68, that she “got it on her back, the president f-king [of E!] … we all know how she got there.”
Joan’s comment referenced Handler’s relationship with Ted Harbert, the former CEO of E!’s parent company, Comcast Entertainment Group.
Handler, who is now dating comedian Jo Koy, was in a relationship with Habert, 66, from 2006 to 2010.
Two years after Joan’s blow, the Grammy winner died when she stopped breathing during a routine throat procedure and went into cardiac arrest.
Melissa said at the time of her mother’s death: ‘My mother’s greatest joy in life was making people laugh. While that’s hard to do right now, I know her dying wish would be that we can smile again soon.”