Chelsea Handler regrets the way she treated Joan Rivers while the iconic comedian was still alive.
The former “Chelsea Lately” host, 47, spoke to the late “Fashion Police” alum’s daughter, Melissa Rivers, Friday about crossing paths with Joan in the past.
“Your mom would, like, approach me a couple times when we were on E!, and I just felt like s–t because I had just kinda blown her off,” Handler explained on the “Melissa Rivers’ Group Text” podcast.
“I wasn’t respectful in the way I realize I needed to be now,” she admitted.
However, Handler seemingly made amends by honoring Joan at the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival in May.
“I was so excited about the opportunity to do it — to go and say those things in front of everybody,” the stand-up comic said. “You have to remember that any opportunity that anyone has in this world as a female comedian, you have to thank the people before you.”
Handler noted that when she had her own talk show on E!, she was “so young” and “arrogant” and thought she “got [her]self” her success.
“I didn’t give her the kudos that she deserved, and 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 that she went “bananas” when she learned Handler had been chosen to induct her mom at the Netflix festival. However, she was very moved by the former “Chelsea” host’s speech and thought Handler would have gotten along great with Joan.
Handler’s public feud with Melissa’s mother began with a 2012 “Howard Stern Show” appearance.
The “Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea” author asked Howard Stern, “What the f–k do I care about Joan Rivers? I don’t think about her ever.” Handler’s dig came during the peak success of her E! show, which ran from 2007 to 2014.
Joan subsequently responded by calling Handler a “drunk” and a “whore,” telling Stern, 68, that she “made it on her back, f–king the president [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 in a relationship with comedian Jo Koy, dated Habert, 66, from 2006 to 2010.
Two years after Joan’s clapback, 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 mom’s death, “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.”
