Comedian Joan Rivers has been taken to hospital after complications during surgery, according to the TV network she works for.

The US star stopped breathing while undergoing an operation on her throat, reported E! News.

She is being treated at a hospital in New York city.

The NYPD press office confirmed to Newstalk that an 81-year-old woman was taken from a doctor's office on 93rd Street by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital at around 9:30am local time.

Just six days ago she had also been filmed taking part in the ice bucket challenge, during which she had a bucket of iced water poured over her after being challenged by Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker and Tara Reid.

Her daughter and regular co-star in some of her TV shows Melissa Rivers and her son Cooper have flown to be by her side, the E! network added in a statement on its website.

Ms Rivers (81) is host of E!'s 'Fashion Police' and also appears in an internet talk show on YouTube with Melissa called 'In Bed With Joan'.

Earlier this year, she finished shooting her fourth series of another show with her daughter called 'Joan And Melissa: Joan Knows Best?'.

After starting on 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' she went on to host a rival programme called 'The Late Show' in the 1980s before setting up the daytime 'The Joan Rivers Show' a few years after.

Ms Rivers recently hit the headlines after a video surfaced online in which she said the victims of the Gaza conflict in Palestine "deserve to be dead".

In the video, Ms Rivers was asked her opinion on the death of nearly 2,000 Palestinians so far as a result of the conflict to which she responded, "tell that to Hiroshima".

She quickly took to her Facebook page to defend her comments, claiming she stands by what she said but it was "completely taken out of context".

Tim Teeman is senior editor at The Daily Beast. He interviewed the comedian last month.