Melissa Rivers spent years critiquing celebrity style on Fashion Police, and at least one major actress decided to confront her about it face to face.
During a recent appearance on The McBride Rewind, Rivers recalled being approached at a party by a woman she described only as a “big actress” who was unhappy with something said about her on the E! series. Rivers did not identify the actress or offer any clues about who she was, according to People.
“I’ve had a big actress confront me at a party,” Rivers said. “And I’m just like, ‘I didn’t like your dress.’”
The encounter was one of several uncomfortable celebrity interactions Rivers experienced while working as an executive producer on the show and later joining its on-air cast. She also recalled realizing after another awards show that she and her mother, Joan Rivers, were about to spend a cross-country flight with an actress whose outfit they had just criticized.
Rivers Says There Was a ‘Painful List’ of Stars They Offended
Rivers acknowledged that years of blunt fashion commentary probably left a substantial number of celebrities unhappy with the show.
“There probably is a painful list,” she said.
She remembered another woman who challenged her over the program’s criticism and later arrived at an event with a noticeably different look. Rivers said the woman had changed stylists and hair color and offered her own assessment that she appeared to have undergone a facelift. Rivers did not identify the woman, and her comment about cosmetic surgery was an observation rather than a confirmed medical fact.
The experience left Rivers with the impression that some celebrities listened to the criticism even when they disliked hearing it. Her comments focused on changes she personally noticed rather than identifying any stylist, beauty or medical decisions made by the unnamed woman.
She Once Shared a Flight With an Actress They Had Just Criticized
Rivers also remembered boarding a flight from Los Angeles to New York with Joan after they had taped a post-awards edition of Fashion Police early that morning.
An actress they knew then boarded the same flight. Melissa and Joan had already criticized her red-carpet outfit during the taping, but the episode had not yet aired.
“We knew her. Hugs, chatting,” Rivers recalled. She said Joan and the actress discovered that they were reading the same book and began talking while Melissa sat there knowing what the woman would soon hear on television.
“Oh s—, tonight she’s going to find out what we said about her dress,” Rivers remembered thinking. Page Six also detailed Rivers’ account of the encounter.
Melissa did not reveal the actress’s identity or say how she reacted after the episode aired.
Rivers Says ‘Fashion Police’ Criticized Clothes, Not People
Rivers defended the premise of Fashion Police, arguing that a negative judgment about someone’s red-carpet outfit was not intended as a judgment of the celebrity as a person.
“We’re not saying that you drown puppies. You made a bad choice,” she said. Rivers acknowledged that Joan’s comedy could go considerably further, including jokes about celebrities and pop culture, but said the program was created to entertain rather than declare someone a terrible person.
She also rejected the idea that judging celebrity fashion disappeared with the series. Rivers pointed to viewers discussing awards-show outfits with friends or reacting to photographs on social media as versions of the same conversation.
“Everyone sits, to this day, and watches the shows and goes, ‘Oh my god, that’s amazing’ or ‘Oh my god, that’s horrible,’” she said. “The difference was we did it out loud.”
Fashion Police ended its run in 2017, but Rivers has continued discussing red-carpet style through television appearances and her own media work. She returned to the Emmys red carpet in September 2026 for the first time in nearly two decades, joining CNN and Variety’s live coverage of the awards and once again interviewing stars while weighing in on the night’s fashion.