Vanity on The Joan Rivers Show - 1986

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

Only Denise could dress like she was at a funeral, but make you forget that with her bright, beautiful smile.

[@Ineedpeace215]

She never seemed to get annoyed by the constant Prince questions during her interviews.

[@vincentthomas7142]

Because she really loved him

[@sallyrose692]

Cause she really was a feminine, woman full of grace.

[@melodyal3357]

I think she really loved him.

[@dennispearson871]

Prince Never really got over her ! Every woman he picked after her had to Resemble Vanity in some kind of way !! Everybody knew EXACTLY what Prince's type was !!...I Believe they were true Soul mates !!...Prince died only 2 months after Vanity !!....Obviously From a broken heart !!!.....She was the true love of his life ❤ !!!...

[@h2d127]

Vanity the beautiful one ☝🏽

[@vminajj1267]

Vanity looks so pretty here. I love seeing her with less makeup

[@h2d127]

RIP....the beautiful one ☝🏽 Vanity 2021.

[@kaleoy7584]

One could tell that Joan truly loved Vanity. This is not the first nor the last time Joan did a show that she had Vanity as a guest. I believe it is because Joan loved getting her face done and she felt like a lot of people did and still do, believe Vanity had the perfect facial features.

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

I often find that most of my celebrity crushes look like Denise.

[@chickwithaguitar6876]

@@STEJTHEGREATEST Denise is truly a Goddess🙏❤️.

[@ladyblue1729]

She was very pretty, no doubt. I had a friend that favored her a lot. When she was in the room, no one else got much attention.🙃

[@Gildedbutterfly1976]

Absolutely. Vanity was 100% natural and her facial features were absolutely perfect! ❤❤❤

[@abclmnop987]

@@STEJTHEGREATEST surprisingly, one model/actress that looks like her (esp in her youth; the time she was dating Tom Brady) is Bridget Moynahan. Not exactly but they have a very similar smile.

[@chelsabailey1018]

Vanity was a gorgeously stunning Black woman!!! Love her as a kid, LOVE her STILL!!!!

[@MOTHATALKS]

I thought blacks didn't have representation ever.......

[@colossus112785]

@@MOTHATALKS She's half German

[@MOTHATALKS]

@@colossus112785 that's why she's stunning ....

[@treyjacobs7609]

@@colossus112785 your point ? Clearly we all know but she only claimed black

[@colossus112785]

@@treyjacobs7609 I was just pointing out facts that's all I swear ppl always have to come at u hard on here smh

[@paulfredrickson2181]

A GODDESS, one of the most beautiful & sweet women ever created. R.I.P.

[@h2d127]

RIP SWEET PEACE BEAUTIFUL ONE ☝🏽 VANITY......Denise.

[@johnmoore4714]

Prince 🤴 was special 💜

[@kweenme8101]

5:45 OH NO SHE DI'IN say she "always had a thing for gorillas".."her dad's black" (german mother and african father. ) There are so many people with racist views that are not even aware they have them. Even more who know they have them and flaunt them.

[@metalmami7862]

He beat the shit out of her, so who cares what she says about him

[@laurenmungaray3912]

I think she meant that her father is violent like a gorilla. He was physically abusive.

[@lwmson]

@@metalmami7862 Where is the evidence that he beat the shit out of her? And she didn't call him a gorilla, because he was mean to her. She called him a gorilla because he was black. That's EXACTLY what she said.

[@vanityangel2025]

She said it in interviews.

[@malcolmxpanther]

That Gorilla joke fell flat and was awkward. No one in the audience laughed and Joan switched the subject super quick

[@adrellefa8123]

That was absolutely awful and shocking.

[@AlmondJoie]

The alleged physical and emotional abuse that Vanity suffered at the hands of her father was probably why she referred to him as a gorilla.

[@kimlee399]

@@AlmondJoiestill racist

[@AlmondJoie]

@@kimlee399 She's dead and gone now. It is what it is.

[@kimlee399]

@@AlmondJoie despite of that comment I still love her it’s sad but true

[@vanityangel2025]

She was so sweet and honest😊😊😊

[@lwmson]

I'm old enough to have actually watched this telecast back in 1986, and when Vanity made that crass racist remark about her dad being a gorilla because he was Black (5:35), the following day all hell broke loose. DJs at Black stations across the country lambasted her over the air and some vowed never to play her records again (and didn't). Black folks everywhere were in an uproar and understandably so. She tried to exculpate herself in Jet magazine by saying that she loves gorillas and even sported a gorilla fur coat, but no one bought it, knowing that it was B.S. Many believe that the controversy over this racist remark was what led to the downfall of her recording career.

[@vgvfvfgvgvvyvffvyvfy9311]

REALLY??v

[@lwmson]

@@vgvfvfgvgvvyvffvyvfy9311 Yes, really. If you don't believe me, research it.

[@pussycowgirl5767]

I remember on video soul she made a similar comment about a fur coat from africa when donnie simpson ask where she got that coat she said africa you can't get any blacker than that I knew what she was getting at

[@dl2310]

She followed up that comment with "I also had a thing for gorillas too". Was she talking about Prince? Him being a Black man and all?

[@lwmson]

@@dl2310 I think this was her way to try and salvage the damage she created with the previous remark, but by then it was too late.

[@vminajj1267]

She was so beautiful!! Such a great role model we miss you Denise

[@lwmson]

She was indeed gorgeous, but a "great role model"? How could she be such after she made that racist remark about her Black father? I think your problem V is that you're too taken in by surface beauty. I know that it's human nature that we're biased to those who are extremely attractive, but what she said reflected poorly on her character, and character, not appearance, is what defines an individual.

[@silke9479]

@@lwmson There are different races, whether they like it or not! And they are all different, culture, type etc.!

[@lwmson]

@@silke9479 I'm afraid that I don't get what you mean.

[@aavalestormiconicperformer]

Vanity seems so animated. I felt so scared for her. The guy next to her kept touching his nose and I am not sure what that really means. Was he saying she is stuck up? or using coke? Not sure but it was odd and seems disrespectful. She said that her mom loves gorillas she married my dad and he's black....I thought that was weird too. I guess she was high.

[@maximusprime3459]

Yes, he was insulting her with that coke snorting gesture. Unfortunately at the time Vanity was known for her abuse of drugs especially throughout her relationship with Rock Star Nikki Sixx.

[@twistoffate4791]

@@maximusprime3459 Life is so difficult, who wouldn't want to numb themselves? Of course, people LOVE to point out the defects in others & under every interview on Vanity I have watched, even though she shines in them SOMEONE comments that she's "high as a kite" when I personally don't even notice it. Oh well, she's in no pain now, and her earthly suffering has reached its final conclusion.

[@maximusprime3459]

@@twistoffate4791 Sure, Jan.

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

Maybe she was just taking digs at her dad because of how abusive he was.

[@briannaburch6737]

@@STEJTHEGREATEST she was it took her a long time to forgive her father For the evil things that he did to her so that remark was towards him

[@maximusprime3459]

Note the rude commedian making cocaine snorting gestures insulting Vanity.

[@aavalestormiconicperformer]

I was wondering what that meant. I guess he was trying to out her or make a fool of her. Not very funny at all.

[@elisageorge1798]

@@aavalestormiconicperformerI can't say she had been using here because her demeanor was like a black Marilyn Monroe anyway. I'm sure they didn't judge Monroe like that. I don't know why some people think a drug user is beneath them. When lying, backstabbing, gossiping, adultery, whoremongers etc . is bad also. I say examine yourself. Before you throw stones at others.She remained the beautiful inner woman she was. But changed to being a drug free woman of God. The ones that condemned her probably continued in their evil ways.

[@jasonwade9160]

She's dressed like a straight up witch. Does not appear to be high on coke really at all. That coke from the 80s would of had her looking some kind of way in her interviews but I dont see it.

[@maximusprime3459]

She was known at the time thru many industry circles as Nikki Sixx's drugged out fiancee, even tho they were *both* using during their relationship. She may not have been using here particularly but the disrespectful coke snorting gesture that hack comedian is making is his way of snitching to the audiance that Vanity is "wired" or high.

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

@@aavalestormiconicperformer He didn't even get half the crowd reaction at the end that Denise did, so it shows that hardly anyone found him particularly funny.

[@jonathanbelone5656]

The most Beautiful, Gorgeous Woman in the 80s!!! Wooooo... loved that woman!

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

5:28 I cry when I remember her last dragon scenes in my head, too.

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

1:04 I like how Joan acted all caring and maternal there, whereas when Denise was a Christian on her show six years later, Joan pulled that trick on her with the stripper, and revealed in the end that she had no intention of listening to Denise whatsoever.

[@laurenmungaray3912]

What are you talking about?

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

@@laurenmungaray3912 That Joan wasn't someone you could trust.

[@abclmnop987]

?? Joan adored her, it was evident in every interview.

[@biancakaye2721]

She was oblivious to what it meant to where that coat. Never learn one thing about her in her interviews. The most peculiar thing.

[@zenobia.wowcrockett5288]

Wow that's interesting ❤❤❤

[@elizabethfeliz221]

I wonder why the hell that guy kept pressing on his nose like something stank.

[@user-bb3wf8qm9x]

Shame on those who are making excuses and overanalyzing the meaning. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the first or last....Being beautiful doesn't give passes to insult. If dad was a guerilla, then she's 50%%🤔

[@godsangels9405]

Does anyone ever remember a late night interview she did where she has on a silver or gray outfit with a crown of grey or white feathers and the guy with her poured water on himself?

[@godsangels9405]

5:44 whoa she said that? Uh oooh.

[@carmishiahooks6323]

I wonder if they still got that hat at Disney World? 🤔😍🧐

[@dennispearson871]

Initially It was very difficult for me to tell Vanitys ethnicity. I thought she was from India 🇮🇳 , until discovering her father was black and her mother was german. What a magnificent combination !!!.....

[@abclmnop987]

She looks more Native American than someone from India. I could never understand this comparison.

[@dennispearson871]

@@abclmnop987 If Vanity ( In her early 20'S) went to India and mastered the dialect she would be Immediately accepted as a Brahman, and Dam near Worshiped , Believe Me !!!...

[@kimlee399]

She looks coolie like how we call them in Jamaica

[@NoelG314]

her outfit is pure symbolism.

[@inmyownwords9798]

She admittedly was into a lot of things...

[@justynjonn]

Do tell. Explain.

[@melodyal3357]

of?

[@NoelG314]

@@justynjonn dedinition: an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.

[@NoelG314]

@@melodyal3357 definition: an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

6:24 That must've been why she was so scary as a killer in memories of murder!!!! :(

[@justbeingmesparks6538]

Oh yikes - not the "gorilla" comment. I am sure there were some things said (in the industry) back then about that.

[@Beomgyushousew1fe]

I was like, is nobody going to talk about that😭Barely anybody laughed it was kinda awkward

[@deandraavery]

That was a racist thing for her to infer about her own father just weird, clearly she high on here.

[@vminajj1267]

@@deandraavery her dad molested her and abused her and her mother physically and mentally. She probably did look at him as a gorilla it’s not a racist remark

[@lwmson]

@@vminajj1267 Oh God, wake up. She didn't call him a gorilla because he was abusive, She called him that because he was Black and that's literally what she said. Had she said, "He was a gorilla, because he was a beast," she could have gotten away with it. But she called him a gorilla because he was Black. That stuff about him abusing her was probably just B.S. anyway. She wrote that in her memoir years after she made this remark and did so just as a way of trying to justify what she said about him being a gorilla.

[@metalmami7862]

@@lwmson But he WAS abusive!

[@Freshy009]

Yikes! To the gorilla comment. Oh Vanity, but we know in later years she was remorseful of this persona.

[@vminajj1267]

her dad molested her and abused her and her mother physically and mentally. She probably did look at him as a gorilla it’s not a racist remark

[@shdhfbdbdndbdjfnfb1393]

@@vminajj1267 she literally said her mom has a thing for gorillas because she was with her dad and her dad is black. She’s literally telling you it’s racial

[@briannaburch6737]

@@vminajj1267 She literally could’ve said her father was abusive and we know that he was both physically and sexually but it’s OK to come out the fault that she made regarding the history of Black people being called gorillas Yes she’s apologized because of the fact but she compared him to a gorilla because he was black

[@dabzd6031]

@@briannaburch6737 or maybe she said gorilla cause he beat her up like only a beast would do. Maybe it’s not always about race.

[@lwmson]

@@dabzd6031 If she had said, "she married my dad, he was gorilla because he used to beat me all the time" then I could see it. But she called him a gorilla because he was Black. You'd have to be a fanboy/girl blinded by hero worship not to see that this was a racist statement.

[@hollywood5199]

Mary Lou Reddin was tiny.

[@ladyblue1729]

I remember when she said that but I didn't know it was on the air; I thought it was in a magazine. She casually says the gorilla remark as if she's talking about liking the color red or something! "I always had a thing for gorillas too." The audience laughs but is not sure if they realize what they're laughing at! She even goes back to her father and makes him look like a cheat but talking about him being a "busy man," he's dead but he watches over me. Really, Vanity, and that's how you repay him!😣 I mean she should have just🤐 at this point and let Joan talk, 'cause she was just digging herself in deeper. I mean, no one, especially Joan saw that coming! Excuse me! That's how you clean up a racist comment like that! Wow, unreal!😣 It Makes you wonder if the gorilla remark was her way of expressing that she was ashamed of being half black. So distasteful and sad, but I heard she had a huge drug problem, as she once said. She eventually cleaned herself up and became a minister before she died. So God rest her soul and everyone deserves a second chance if they truly want it and try to get it. Hopefully, after she got clean, she realized how that wasn't just offensive and disrespectful to her father and other black people but she disrespected herself as well, after all, she's black too, even though only half.🤔 I like how Joan Rivers just went on past that! Way to go, Joan, ignoring that and changing the subject. I guess she said you're not going to get me canceled!🤐😫

[@lwmson]

What this was about is that she didn't see herself as Black but as "bi-racial," which she thought put her in another race category, which of course isn't the case. Interestingly enough, she became much darker as she got older, so I guess the "gorilla" side of her took over.

[@ladyblue1729]

@@lwmson Hahaha😁 I guess you're right. Funny how that happened Lol Perhaps that complexion change was to make her face reality. God bless her; I guess she just didn't know or didn't WANT to know🙄

[@kisha4040]

@@lwmson Biracial and Black is not the same.

[@lwmson]

@@kisha4040 Oh yes it is dear. The racial term "Black" isn't a descriptive term. although many of us Blacks in our ignorance, like Vanity, perceive it as such. It's a dichotomous term, and it means that you are not White. There is no gray area.

[@Rozziefeatherschneider]

​@@lwmsonShe still wasn't really that dark, I think the gorilla comment though was because her father was very abusive.

[@carolynharper8331]

Gosh, I don't remember Vanity. She reminds me of Anna Nicole Smith without the slurry voice.

[@LeeAnn20008]

Wow, never thought about that....

[@3t-sm954]

Less than desirable quality of journalism. E.D.M.

[@mssbrown2787]

Joan Rivers did not know how to do interviews at this point...

[@beoverwait]

That white dude kept holding his nose whenever Vanity came out or moved as if she stinks

[@kimlee399]

Joan rivers ignored her 5:48 because that was racist as but then always says she’s a black women however I’m dissappointed in her in that scene

[@valeriet5043]

Whoa that’s an ugly comment. Like is she angry w her dad idk that gorilla comment was wild. Reading the comments saying that led to her demise makes some sense.

[@briannaburch6737]

Her father was the cause of much of her pain and problems he molested her for years and physically abused her on a daily basis until he died when she was 15 years old

[@annakats1482]

i believe that her death and prince too was staged, according to doing research

[@Donna777]

I believe so too! 💜💜

[@lwmson]

I beileve that's bullshit. Why would they want to kill her?

[@thesecondYouTube]

They are relaxing on a beach somewhere not dead.

[@godsangels9405]

It does seem to be odd how they both died in the same year under similar "drug" related reasons.

[@silke9479]

@@godsangels9405 Certainly not...!

[@tilatsiddiqui3969]

Dude deceiver alert