Joan Rivers was a huge animal lover. After her husband committed suicide in 1987, she too considered ending her life. However, she was saved by her dog, Spike. "I was sitting in this big empty house in Bel Air, with a phone with five extensions which we no longer needed. I had the gun in my lap, and the dog sat on the gun. I lecture on suicide because things turn around," she told the Daily Beast. "I tell people this is a horrible, awful dark moment, but it will change and you must know it’s going to change and you push forward. I look back and think, 'Life is great, life goes on. It changes.'" As she got older, she made sure to set aside money for her pets when she made her will.