In a recent interview on The New York Times podcast Sway, the comic goes into detail for host Kara Swisher about the traumatic ordeal she experienced after a suicide attempt — while also touching on her views about cancel culture, particularly how it’s impacting comedians like Joe Rogan and Dave Chappelle.
“I tried to kill myself, and ended up in the psych ward,” Griffin said bluntly.
The comedian’s downward spiral began after her infamous 2017 photo in which she held the decapitated head (a Halloween mask and ketchup) of then-President Donald Trump.
While the stunt was intended to be a joke, it ultimately sent her on a life-altering journey that included being placed on a “no fly” list, getting harassed and threatened by Trump supporters, being fired from her CNN New Year’s Eve gig and much more. She later chronicled a bit of her experience in the documentary Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself,” she said of that time, explaining that it exacerbated her addiction to pills. “I was just such a crazy workaholic, and all of a sudden, I had this time on my hands, and then I was depressed, and things just weren’t looking up. And then, you fall into the, like, life will be better for my husband without me around.”
