Joan Rivers found an unusual way to recover from the death of her husband EDGAR ROSENBERG - she started cracking jokes about it. Rivers, whose partner committed suicide in 1987, insists she and her daughter MELISSA were devastated by the tragedy. But she was convinced black humour could heal their pain, although she admits her quip could have backfired. She says, "After my husband, Edgar, committed suicide it was a very hard time for us. I took Melissa to dinner after the shivah (Jewish time of mourning) and she was such a wreck I couldn't reach her. "I looked at the prices on the menu and I said, 'Melissa, if Daddy was alive he'd kill himself all over again.' She laughed."