Melissa Rivers looks back on the unfiltered era of Fashion Police and defended the show's brutally honest approach. She revealed that a major actress once confronted her over a red carpet critique.
Speaking on the McBride Rewind podcast, Rivers recalled being approached by an unnamed 'big actress' at a party who was unhappy about comments made on the E! fashion programme. Rather than backing away from the criticism, Rivers said she simply told the actress: 'I didn't like your dress.'
Was Fashion Police 'Too Harsh?'
Rivers did not identify the actress. The mystery left fans without an answer as to which Hollywood star was willing to challenge her face-to-face.
The revelation comes as Rivers revisits the legacy of Fashion Police, the series built around celebrity fashion commentary following awards shows and major red carpet events. Joan Rivers was the show's central figure until her death in 2014, while Melissa later joined the programme's on-air team and executive production. The series concluded in 2017.
According to Melissa, there was a 'painful list' of celebrities offended by comments from her and her mother over the years. She also recalled one celebrity who appeared to respond to criticism by returning with a new stylist, different hair colour and what Melissa described as an obvious facelift. That person's identity was also not disclosed.
An Uncomfortable Encounter
Another memory was even more uncomfortable. Rivers described boarding a flight from Los Angeles to New York with Joan after an awards-show taping. She said that they encountered an actress whose outfit they had criticised.
The three knew one another, so there were hugs and conversation, while Melissa and Joan privately knew the actress would soon discover what they had said about her dress on television.
The awkwardness illustrates the unusual position Fashion Police occupied. The people being discussed were not anonymous celebrities viewed from a distance; Rivers and her mother sometimes knew them personally.
Still, Melissa argues that the programme was about clothes rather than attacking someone's character.
'We're not saying that you drown puppies,' she explained in the podcast discussion. 'You made a bad choice.'
A Show With a 'Deliberately Shallow Premise'
She also defended the show's deliberately shallow premise, arguing that viewers have always discussed celebrity outfits among friends. The difference, she said, was that Fashion Police did it publicly and turned those conversations into entertainment.
That defence echoes comments Rivers made elsewhere about her mother's approach. In another interview, she explained that Joan and the show's team had rules about their targets and maintained that they were critiquing fashion choices rather than declaring someone a bad person.
The debate feels particularly relevant as Rivers has recently returned to the red carpet herself. For the 2026 Emmys, she joined CNN and Variety's red carpet coverage, saying she wanted to bring back the fun. She even joked that she was 'bringing back the shallow' by focusing on fashion and glamour.
Nearly a decade after Fashion Police ended, Melissa's latest stories suggest the show's sharpest comments have not been forgotten by the people who received them.
Whether audiences see the programme's humour as harmless fashion banter or an outdated form of celebrity scrutiny may depend on where they draw the line. But Rivers' position remains clear: the show's purpose was never to judge someone's worth. It was to make jokes about what they wore.
