On the mend. Kathy Griffin gave fans an update on her health after she announced her lung cancer earlier this week, and she’s already on the road to recovery.
“Wow! I’m so grateful for all the love you guys are sending me,” the comedian, 60, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, August 3. “Surgery went well yesterday. Phew.”
Kathy Griffin. Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
The Illinois native revealed on Monday, August 2, that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer despite never having smoked and was set to have surgery that day.
“The doctors are very optimistic as it is stage one and contained to my left lung,” she wrote in a statement posted to Twitter and Instagram. “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.”
Later on Monday, a representative for Griffin confirmed to Us Weekly that the Suddenly Susan alum was out of surgery and doing well. “Surgery went well and as planned,” the rep said in a statement. “Kathy is now in recovery now and resting. Doctors say the procedure was normal without any surprises.”
During an interview with Nightline that aired Monday, the Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins author also revealed that she has struggled with addiction and thoughts of self-harm over the past several years. She traced some of her difficulties back to the infamous 2017 photo that showed her holding what appeared to be the severed head of Donald Trump, which led to her losing jobs and receiving death threats.
Her pill addiction began when she was prescribed Provigil, an amphetamine similar to Adderall, followed by Ambien to help her sleep. She was also prescribed painkillers later on.
“I started thinking about suicide more and more as I got into the pill addiction, and it became almost an obsessive thought,” she recalled. “I started really convincing myself it was a good decision. I got my living revocable trust in order. I had all my ducks in a row. I wrote the note — the whole thing.”
In her Instagram post on Wednesday, she shared a photo of a keychain commemorating her sobriety. “I was very nervous about opening up on @Nightline re my suicidal ideations and my prescription pill addiction,” she wrote in her caption. “This keychain means the world to me. One day at a time.”
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