Kathy Griffin opens up about PTSD and anxiety sparked by backlash to bloody Trump pic
Kathy Griffin has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and also deals with anxiety attacks and depression, she shared over the weekend on social media.
“I’ve been diagnosed with complex PTSD, and they call it an extreme case,” the comic said in one of several videos posted to her TikTok account in recent days. Last week, Griffin also shared a photo of herself on Instagram in a hospital, announcing she was “getting an MRI.”
MRI scans can be used to help detect PTSD. Pop singer Ariana Grande shared results of her brain scans in 2019 to announce her own PTSD diagnosis after a 2017 suicide bomber in Manchester, England, killed almost two dozen people and injured scores at one of her concerts.
Kathy Griffin is talking about the depths of her cancellation. Right-wing attacks were expected, she said, but the left-wing reactions did her in.
Griffin said her condition was triggered, in large part, about 5½ years ago when she was blacklisted from Hollywood after posting a photo of herself holding a Halloween mask styled to look like the severed head of then-President Trump. The stunt drew criticism from conservatives and liberals alike.
“If any of you know my story, you’ll understand this really started for me 5½ years ago, wink,” the 62-year-old said on TikTok, adding that “the cancer didn’t help.” (Griffin was diagnosed in 2021 with Stage 1 lung cancer and had half of one lung removed that August.)
Griffin, who has since resumed work in Hollywood and is now cancer free, posted other videos over the weekend where she talks about her anxiety attacks, including a recent one that lasted eight hours.
Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman and Rich Sommer are among the celebrities whose Twitter accounts have been suspended.
“Eight hours of freaking writhing in pain in the bed,” the Emmy winner said in the video while walking near the ocean, which she said is helping her stave off another possible attack.
“I’m almost like mid-anxiety attack right now,” Griffin said. “It feels good to walk myself through it. I keep telling myself it won’t last forever.”
In another video, Griffin said that her PTSD symptoms show up most frequently in the morning and that she “wakes up every morning to see whether I’m going to be OK or not.”
‘This is what it’s come to people!’ Kathy Griffin said upon sharing with her Twitter and Instagram followers the results of a lung cancer scan.
Despite having 2 million followers on Twitter and more than 600,000 on Instagram, Griffin said she felt confident sharing her condition on TikTok after watching other people open up about their mental health in similar videos. She went on to invite others to share ways they cope with their anxiety and depression.
Commenters responded by recommending EMDR and somatic therapies, talk therapy, medication and taking things a moment at a time.
Griffin said she has coped by taking walks, getting dressed and putting on makeup and heading out for fun activities such as a visit to the farmers market.
On Tuesday’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live,’ Kathy Griffin said her cancer was gone and she celebrated being ‘an actress again’ after her 2017 Trump photo scandal.
“I like to be sorta overdressed sometimes because getting ready gives me something to do, and I don’t have to wallow in weird thoughts or anything like thought,” she said, while brushing on makeup and showing off a new Ralph Lauren prairie dress, which she called “ridiculous.”
Since Griffin’s career took a nosedive, she has rebounded with a supporting role on Season 5 of the HBO Max show “Search Party” and is currently voicing a role on Adult Swim’s “Futurama.”
She continues to perform stand-up comedy, which she started in the 1990s, leading to celebrated specials, including a routine that nabbed her a Grammy award for comedy album in 2013.
Her Bravo reality series, “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” ran from 2005 to 2010 and earned her an Emmy. She was a major part of CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcasts for years, but was fired in 2017 after posting the grisly faux-Trump photo.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
