Rivers philosophical about breakup

Olympian news services

Originally published Monday, April 1, 2002

RADNOR, Pa. -- Although her marriage is in trouble and she's coping with a toddler, Melissa Rivers is philosophical about her problems.

"I had the pretty wedding. I made the pretty house," Rivers says in the April 6 issue of TV Guide. "I had the pretty baby, I had the handsome husband. I had the career, he had the career, with me at the gate, waving.

"And the reality is: I'm flawed, he's flawed. I'm still in the honeymoon stages of trying to stay above the fray, and I'm going to be civil, but there have been days when I've just wanted to freak. I just try and curb it."

Rivers, 34, known for her work on the E! network shows "Live from the Red Carpet" and "Fashion Police," is separated from her husband, John Endicott. Her famous mother, Joan Rivers, said the situation is hard to handle.

"Of course you want to see your child happy and secure. You want to see someone cherishing your child," Joan Rivers said. "But I don't know and I don't ask. I just stand by and support. That's all I'm good for now."

NEW YORK -- The "Seinfeld" curse?

Not so, says actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus as she tries to succeed in an area where two former "Seinfeld" co-stars have failed.

"It's a 'Seinfeld' blessing," the actress said in Sunday editions of The Washington Post. "Without 'Seinfeld,' I wouldn't have been able to do this show."

In her new sitcom "Watching Ellie," Louis-Dreyfus plays a struggling Los Angeles club singer whose life is examined each week in episodes that are presented in real time. It appears Tuesday nights on NBC.

The network and Louis-Dreyfus have a lot riding on the show. NBC desperately wants to rebound from sitcom failures earlier this season and Louis-Dreyfus doesn't want to go the way of Jason Alexander and Michael Richards. Their sitcoms after "Seinfeld" both flopped.

"My answer to pressure is to focus in on the work and hope it pays off," Louis-Dreyfus said. "If it doesn't, at least I can say I did my best."

ANGOLA, La. -- Musicians Charlie Daniels and Aaron Neville spent Easter Sunday counseling inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

The singers participated in Operation Starting Line, a coalition of more than 20 faith-based organizations that tries to help inmates turn their lives around through religion.

"Almost 90 percent of our inmates are serving life sentences and so religion and focusing on bettering yourself and saving yourself is important," said prison spokeswoman Cathy Fontenot.

Operation Starting Line was founded by Chuck Colson, who served seven months in prison for Watergate-related crimes.

Colson, who was at the prison Sunday, has spent Easter in prisons across the country for 25 years, talking with inmates about finding God. Colson toured death row Sunday, while others ministered to inmates elsewhere in the penitentiary, Fontenot said.

"Everybody got some religion," she said.

More than 2,200 inmates from the state penitentiary and other prisons and 500 members of the public attended the event, which included performances by Daniels and Neville.

"Aaron (Neville) sang "Angola Bound" of course, the song he's most famous for around here," Fontenot said.

Neville's other hits include "Everybody Plays the Fool" and "Tell It Like It Is." Daniels is perhaps best known for the song "Devil Went Down to Georgia."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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