We lost Joan Rivers
September 4th 2014 and now
we get a chance to see her
life in terms of her birth
order. Daughter, Sister,
Wife, Mother, Grandmother
and Comedian are roles she
has played. Her birth
order influenced them all.
Early Years
Born Joan Molinsky June 8,
1933 in Brooklyn N.Y. to
Jewish immigrant parents. Two years earlier her sister
Barbara was born. Both
girls did well in school and
both earned Phi Beta Kappa
Honors at their respective
colleges. Barbara went on
to law school and became
one of its youngest
graduates. She later attended
medical school and married
Dr. Edward Waxler, a
cardiologist, they had two
children.
The #2 Birth Order
The Second born is the
child that is characterized as
Stubborn only because they
want to control their own
space. This birth order
instinctively wants to dethrone
their older sibling. First,
they copy everything they do.
Later, if they see
dethroning is impossible they
strike out in a completely
different direction. At an
early age they develop a
work ethic and can’t seem
to stay still, always
having a project. Money is very
important to them for the
security it brings not in
the wealth itself. With enough money people
can’t tell you what to do.
This is true of both Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett two of
the richest men in the
world. At the time of her
death Forbes estimated
Joan's net worth
between 150 and 290 million
dollars. Second borns also
have a belief system
that is hard to change for
they see thingsnot on a
personal level but have their own standards of
what is right and wrong. The
Second born may go
right when the others go left. They
will rarely back
down when they take a position. Joan would never
apologize for her jokes even
if they were in bad taste.
Joan as a Second Born
She started early in her
life doing anything to “make
a living”. Her big break was the Johnny Carson show.
They hit it off right away;
Johnny was also a #2 birth
order. She made the mistake of taking an offer for
a show that was in direct
competition with Johnny
and that ended the
relationship. The Second born has
a value system you don’t
want to cross. Johnny was
the first guest on her
show but afterwards forbid any
guests on his show that
were guests on Joan’s show.
Johnny a #2 would never
talk to her again. Soon after
her show was cancelled by
Fox. Broke, she reinvented
herself by started a
company and selling her line of
clothes and jewelry on the
QVC shopping network.
It is estimated she earned
50 million a year from QVC.
She said, “There is
nothing I won’t do, humiliation does
not exist in my
vocabulary” She may have also
controlled things in her
marriage. She married Edgar
her 2nd husband
a few days after they were introduced.
At the time he was a TV
producer. As a #1 he may have
been dethroned by his
younger brother, an engineer
for the Navy. Life was a
struggle for Edgar, the butt
of many of Joan’s jokes. They
were married for 22
years. He committed
suicide soon after the marriage
had trouble and he and
Joan were separated. This
happened in 1987 after Fox
fired her when she
challenged their decision
to fire him as the producer
of her show.
Working to the End
In her last years Joan was
co-hosting the E! celebrity
Fashion Show Fashion Police, as well as the reality
series Joan & Melissa Joan Knows Best? Her
self–deprecating humor and
the plastic surgery she
felt she needed to stay In
show business will not be
forgotten. She refusedto
bow to political correctness.
“Don’t tell me what to do”
says the Second born.
Now. “Can we talk?”
For more information on
birth order visit
Fingerprint: How Birth Order Affects Your Path
Throughout Life by Dr. Robert V.V. Hurst
