Kathy Griffin, 62, revealed that she recently underwent vocal cord surgery to restore her voice, in a new TikTok video. The comedian, who went through a battle with lung cancer, showed footage of her in a hospital operating room on the same day she went through the procedure. She also showed video of inside her vocal cords as the doctor looked at them through a scope.
@kathygriffin I so appreciate you guys following along on my hourney to get my voice back after #lungcancer !!! Thank you so much to Dr.Barbu!!! #wellnessjourney #cancer #survivor #fyp #foryoupage #comedia #comedian #standup #standupcomedy #vocal #kathygriffin
“I so appreciate you guys following along on my hourney to get my voice back after #lungcancer !!! Thank you so much to Dr.Barbu!!!” she captioned the video before ending it with the hashtags, #wellnessjourney #cancer #survivor #fyp #foryoupage #comedia #comedian #standup #standupcomedy #vocal #kathygriffin.”
Kathy’s latest video brought on a lot of love from fans in the comments section. “So happy for you,” one fan wrote, while another shared, “That was cool. Wish you the best.” A third fan exclaimed, “Fantastic news!” and a fourth wrote, “Omg.. I am so happy that you found such an amazing female surgeon! Love and prayers to you ❤️You’re so fabulous and wonderful 🥰.”
Before Kathy had her vocal cord surgery, she revealed her cancer diagnosis and the surgery she had for it in another online post back in 2021. “Yes, I have lung cancer even though I’ve never smoked,” she said at the time. “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.”
She also talked about how she got the COVID vaccine, which helped her. “Of course I am fully vaccinated for Covid. The consequences of being unvaccinated would have been even more serious. Please stay up to date on your medical check ups. It’ll save your life,” she said.
Part of her treatment involved having half a lung removed and she admitted it was more of a process than she thought it was going to be. “To be honest, this cancer surgery was a little more than I had anticipated,” she wrote in an Instagram post on August 2021. “Tonight will be my first night without any narcotic pain killers. Hello Tylenol, my new best friend! With over a year clean and drug free, I now know I can do this and anything I want without those devil pills. Y’know what? I fear drugs and addiction more than I fear cancer. So, I think I’ll be OK.”
In Nov. 2021, Kathy announced she was cancer-free, in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I had surgery, you’re not going to believe this — so, I’ve never smoked but I got lung cancer. In August, I had half of my left lung removed. I’m not even kidding,” she told the host before explaining that her voice was temporarily altered by an intubation tube that affected her vocal cord. “So now I’m like Minnie Mouse meets Marilyn Monroe,” she added.
“It will heal, but I’m sort of enjoying it. I’m a good two octaves higher, I think. It’s higher than Mariah Carey, I know that,” she joked.