Entertainment
Kathy Griffin reveals she has cancer: ‘I’m going to have half of my lung removed’
Comedian Kathy Griffin is set to undergo surgery for lung cancer (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Comedian Kathy Griffin has revealed she has lung cancer.
The 60-year-old told fans she is going to have surgery to have part of one of her lungs removed and will hopefully make a full recovery.
The controversial actress – whose sister Joyce has also battled cancer – said she ‘should be up and running around as usual in a month or less’ and will be ‘just fine’.
Griffin wrote on Twitter: ‘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.
‘Yes, I have lung cancer even though I’ve never smoked! The doctors are very optimistic as it is stage one and contained to my left lung.’
She continued: ‘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.’
Griffin said she has been vaccinated against coronavirus and ‘the consequences for being unvaccinated would have been even more serious’.
‘Please stay up to date on your medical check-ups. It’ll save your life,’ she added.
Friends and fans alike were quick to send their well wishes as actress Ellen Barkin tweeted: ‘Sending thoughts and prayers your way [praying emoji].’
‘Sending u lots of love sister ❤️,’ RuPaul’s Drag Race star Shangela commented on Instagram.
The controversial star revealed she has never smoked as she opened up about her upcoming cancer treatment (Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images)
Griffin made headlines a few years ago when she shaved off her hair to show solidarity with her sister Joyce Griffin, who was going through chemotherapy at the time for cancer.
The TV star’s selfless gesture warmed the heart of her mother Maggie – who died last year at the age of 99 – who praised her as a ‘wonderful human being.’
In a sneak peek at her Nightlife interview airing Monday night, the Emmy-winner explained that her diagnosis came as a ‘shock’.
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‘I was definitely in shock. I’m still a little bit in shock — not denial,’ Griffin stated in the chat which will also see her open up about her mental health struggles, past addiction to pills, and her previous suicide attempt.
The Suddenly Susan star came under fire in 2017 after a very controversial photoshoot of herself holding the bloody decapitated head of an effigy of Donald Trump.
She was forced to delete the shot after being investigated by Secret Service agents over the stunt.
When the Tyler Shields shoot first surfaced, Trump tweeted: ‘Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!’
Griffin asked the photographer to remove the photo from social media and issued an apology, saying: ‘I’m just now seeing the reaction of these images. I’m a comic, I crossed the line. I moved the line and then I crossed it. I went way too far.
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‘The image is too disturbing. I understand how it affects people. It wasn’t funny, I get it. I beg for your forgiveness.’
The comic was fired from her job co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast with Anderson Cooper, with her former friend calling the shoot ‘disgusting and inappropriate’.
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MORE : Kathy Griffin reposts gory picture holding decapitated ‘head of Donald Trump’ amid election count
