Actress and comedian Kathy Griffin revealed Monday that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer despite “never” smoking, and has had half of her left lung removed, according to an announcement she made on social media on Monday.
“I’m still a little bit in shock,” Griffin said on Twitter.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) August 2, 2021
“I’ve got to tell you guys something. I have cancer. I’m about to go into surgery to have half of my left lung removed,” Griffin, 60, wrote via Twitter on Monday. “Yes, I have lung cancer even though I’ve never smoked!”
“I was definitely in shock. I'm still a little bit in shock — not denial."
The two-time Emmy and Grammy award-winning actress continued:
“The doctors are very optimistic as it is stage one and contained to my left lung. Hopefully no chemo or radiation after this and I should have normal function with my breathing. I should be up and running around as usual in a month or less. It’s been a helluva 4 years, trying to get back to work, making you guys laugh and entertaining you, but I’m gonna be just fine.”
In the interview with ABC News, Griffin also revealed an addiction to painkillers.
Griffin stirred a major controversy in 2017 after she posted a video of herself with a bloody mask that resembled then-President Donald Trump. Conservatives and Fox News seized on the, alleging it was a veiled threat against the president. She wound up losing her position as co-host of CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” alongside Anderson Cooper.
She has remained mostly low-key ever since. Griffin did marry her longtime boyfriend Randy Bick on New Years Day 2020.
“I was definitely in shock. I’m still a little bit in shock — not denial,” Griffin said of the diagnosis in a sneak peek of her Nightline interview, set to air on Monday night, according to US Weekly. “The irony is not lost on me that, a little over a year ago, all I wanted to do was die. And now, all I wanna do is live,” she said, according to ABC News.
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