Melissa Rivers: I love hearing that. It’s not what people think it’s going to be.

PR.com: It’s the literal meaning of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” I thought it was just going to be about red carpet fashion, and it’s actually this amazing self-help book that anyone can relate to.

Melissa Rivers: People assume that what they see on the red carpet is who I am. Everyone forgets that it’s a job. People forget that what they see on the red carpet is not me, necessarily.

PR.com: When you first got that job at E!, fourteen years ago, working the red carpet, were you into fashion and celebrity or did you learn to love it because that was what you were doing?

Melissa Rivers: I’ve always loved fashion and I’ve always enjoyed it. The dress that I’m wearing on the cover of my book is one of the dresses that my mom wore to host The Emmys back in the 80s. It’s Bob Mackie. I remember as a little girl, going to Bob Mackie. I remember walking in and there were all of the things for Cher’s show, and this one’s show and that one’s show, growing up backstage in Vegas for so many years, seeing all of the showgirl costumes. I’ve always been very aware of it, and it seemed like an interesting thing to do. But fashion was really secondary. It was more about live event coverage.

PR.com: Why did you choose to refer to both positive and negative moments as “Red Carpet Moments” in your book?

Melissa Rivers: The correlation that I drew is that it’s any time the focus is on you. And it’s not always good. Those are the moments when you really learn.

click to read interview with Melissa Rivers