Kathy Griffin Illness And Health Update

According to Kathy Griffin, she has “complex PTSD.”

In a video posted on TikTok this week, the comedian, 62, announced her illness and asked her followers for advice on how to deal with anxiety and sadness.

“Let’s discuss PTSD. Never discussed it in public,” Griffin said at the start of the video. You can laugh or not, but I have been given an exceptional case diagnosis of complicated PTSD.

“If any of you are familiar with my background, you’ll know that this truly began for me approximately five and a half years ago. Wink,” she said, ostensibly alluding to the incident in 2017 when she posed for a picture holding a bloody imitation of former President Donald Trump’s head, which led to significant professional and personal backlash.

Griffin lost her job as co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve special as a result of the event, was under investigation by the Secret Service, was placed on a “No-Fly” list, and had many of her stand-up performances and TV appearances canceled.

It got to the point where she wouldn’t leave her house for months and started “taking any prescription pill I could get my hands on,” she said in a Newsweek op-ed describing the effects of the photo as “an erasure.”

Griffin claimed in a recent TikTok video that receiving a stage 1 lung cancer diagnosis in 2021 “didn’t help.”

The Cleveland Clinic describes “EDMR therapy” as a “mental health treatment technique” where a person moves their eyes in a particular way while processing traumatic memories in order to “change emotions, thoughts, or behaviors” regarding their experience. In response, one fan in the comments section said that they found it helpful to combine medication with “EDMR therapy,” which they found to be effective.

“Yes, I am going to try EMDR,” Griffin said. “My good pal Sia has been helping me out. She recommended a really good doctor.”

Griffin earlier this week disclosed that she underwent an MRI on Easter Sunday by posting a picture of herself in a hospital hallway, wrapped in a blanket and sporting a face mask.

The My Life on the D-List star previously underwent surgery to remove a portion of her left lung in August 2021 and announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live in December of that year, “I’m cancer free!”