Joy Behar Shares Life Lessons: “Don’t Hold Back, Say What’s on Your Mind, and Be Good to the People You Love” (EXCLUSIVE)

Red-headed beauty Joy Behar, stand-up-comic-turned-co-host of The View, opens up to Closer Weekly about all the lessons she’s learned in her 75 years on Earth, including why keeping a sense of humor about the world has kept her sane.

“I’ve learned a million things, all sorts of lessons — I could go on for days,” she tells Closer. “Don’t hold back, say what’s on your mind, and be good to the people you love.”

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Frozen in the 1950's – great American cars! #Cuba

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Joy draws strength from her bond with daughter Eve, 46, and grandson Luca, 6. “I have a real life outside the show,” Joy recalled to Closer at the recent Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame Awards gala, where The View was inducted. “So when I have tough times, I go to my real life.”

It also helps to have the ability to laugh at the world. “A sense of humor is a very precious thing, and not everybody has it,” Joy — whose new book is titled The Great Gasbag: An A-to-Z Study Guide to Surviving Trump World — says. “I feel sorry for people who don’t because it gets you through the day. If you have it, you should cultivate it — it’s a sign of sanity.”

“Comedians must be listened to right now,” she tells Closer. “We’re not beholden to a boss — we’re our own bosses — and we’ll say what we have to say. I have a forum, and I feel it’s incumbent on me to throw my two cents in.”

Never a shrinking violet, she’ll continue “fighting the fight,” she says. “I don’t want my grandson growing up in a world where there are poisons in the atmosphere and worries about a nuclear war.”

For more on Joy, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for exclusive news!