Kathy Griffin has stage 1 lung cancer.
Griffin is encouraging her followers to continue to stay on top of their medical check-ups as she recently shared her diagnosis to Instagram. Griffin, 60, revealed she will undergo surgery to have part of her left lung removed, adding that she “hopefully” won’t need to undergo chemotherapy afterwards.
“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!” Griffin wrote on Twitter and Instagram. “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,” she continued, adding, “Of course I am fully vaccinated for Covid. The consequences for being unvaccinated would have been even more serious. Please stay up to date on your medical checkups. It’s save your life. XXOO, KG.”
Griffin is set to discuss the diagnosis in an interview with co-anchor Juju Chang which will air on ABC News’ Nightline on Monday night (12:35 a.m. ET on ABC). In a clip from the sit-down, she says she is “still a little bit in shock” after discovering the news a few weeks ago.
“Really just days ago — like, I think two weeks ago — I was diagnosed with cancer. As a friend of mine had said, ‘How many kicks in the nuts can you take?’ My nuts are pretty strong, but it’s a challenge,” she says. “I was definitely in shock. I’m still a little bit in shock — not denial, but once a day I’ll just turn to like, nobody next to me and go, ‘Can you believe this s—? Is this a b**** or what?'”
She will also speak on her mental health journey, addiction to pills, a suicide attempt and her newfound sobriety.
Back in March of last year, Griffin revealed she had experienced COVID-19-like symptoms amid the pandemic, which led her to visiting the emergency room after experiencing “unbearably painful” symptoms, including nausea, diarrhea, chills and a sore throat.
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Griffin went on to marry her long-term partner Randy Bick on New Year’s 2020 in what she described alongside a clip on Twitter at the time as a ceremony lasting “just under 14 minutes.”
In July 2017, Griffin shaved her head in honor of her sister Joyce, who was undergoing chemotherapy while battling cancer. in And in September 2017, Joyce died at the age of 65. Griffin also lost her older brother Gary to cancer in 2014 to stage 4 esophageal cancer. He was 63.
Griffin’s mom Maggie died in March 2020. And the year prior, in January 2019, Griffin had revealed that her mother had been diagnosed with dementia.
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