Comedian Kathy Griffin's life changed forever in May 2017 when she tweeted a photo of herself
holding up a ketchup-covered Halloween mask of Donald Trump in a mock beheading that caused
widespread outrage and disgust.
The president himself shamed Griffin on Twitter, sparking an unprecedented wave of fallout
that sent Griffin into hiding for the better part of a year.
After being dropped from her annual gig as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve coverage,
Griffin also lost a sponsorship deal and watched the last half of her stand-up comedy tour
evaporate before her eyes.
Although she's back in the saddle with a successful stand-up tour, the controversial comedian
is still being affected by the aftershock of the Trump photo scandal.
Let's take a peek inside Kathy Griffin's life today.
Spilling tea
Griffin initially apologized for the Trump photo, and then retracted that apology...
"I am no longer sorry, the whole outrage was B.S.
The whole thing got blown out of proportion and I lost everybody."
Not long after, Griffin let loose on some powerful men from her past whom she felt had
wronged her.
In a scathing October 2017 YouTube video, Griffin first dragged TMZ founder Harvey Levin,
alleging his close backroom ties to Donald Trump led to a smear campaign against her
that she felt intensified the fallout from the photo scandal.
She then took aim at Andy Cohen and Jeff Zucker, her former bosses at Bravo.
Griffin relayed the story of how, when she asked Zucker for a raise, he allegedly became
so enraged at her audacity that he threatened to fire her, forced her to tearfully beg to
keep her job, and then actually cut her pay by 20 percent.
Griffin accused Cohen of "harassing" her and treating her "very poorly" during her time
at Bravo.
She also alleged that he offered her cocaine before two appearances on Watch What Happens
Live.
Back on tour
After watching her already-in-progress U.S. stand-up tour evaporate in the wake of the
Trump photo scandal, Griffin had a light-bulb moment.
According to a May 2018 interview with The Globe and Mail, she told her reps,
"Send me to countries where they hate Trump."
She then kicked off the Laugh Your Head Off Tour with shows in 23 cities in 15 countries,
for which she claimed she received a standing ovation at every gig.
On a March 2018 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Griffin revealed that her American
comeback was fully underway with two shows, quote, "right in Trump's backyard" at The
Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City.
She told The Vancouver Sun,
"This photo will be with me the rest of my career and will be known when I leave this
earth more than anything."
No Fly List
Griffin was cleared of the two month federal investigation over whether she had actually
conspired to assassinate Trump, yes, it was that serious, but she claims she remained
on the No Fly List, which tracks the movements of known and potential international criminals.
As a result, Griffin says she was detained at every airport she flew into for her recent
international tour, which sometimes resulted in the confiscation of her belongings and
always meant big delays and frightening encounters in what she called "detention rooms."
"You might think, 'We all have our rights,' but, you know, when you're in that moment,
you're really at the mercy of one or two people in that room."
Ex-BFF
Not only was it a big professional blow to Griffin when her CNN New Year's Eve show co-host,
Anderson Cooper, denounced the Trump photo on Twitter and turned his back on her, it
was also extremely personal.
"I loved him.
Like, I really loved him."
"The Anderson part, I don't even have a joke for, because honestly that one just hurt."
In an interview with Wendy Williams, Griffin revealed that she and Cooper didn't speak
for a period of two months after the Trump photo, and still do not have a relationship.
Griffin joked to Bill Maher that she was, quote, "down to three gays" when describing
how ostracized she felt by her former social circle.
But she revealed to Wendy Williams that she got some very high-level support from the
likes of Amy Schumer, Bette Midler, and Martin Sheen.
Even Jim Carrey reached out to congratulate her on snagging the kind of juicy material
that any comedian would love to have.
According to Griffin, Carrey told her,
"You can present it comedically however you want, and you're the perfect person for that."
"It is the job of a comedian to cross the line at all times."
You've got hate mail
Griffin says the violent threats she's received in the mail have gotten so bad that the FBI
had to intervene after, quote, "determining that Griffin was under credible threat."
The comedian told The Hollywood Reporter about a system devised by the bureau that was designed
to help her sort her terrifying mail.
She shared,
"There's a pile that we think is harmless and a pile that's questionable.
And then there's a pile that the FBI says you put in a Ziploc bag and give to them.
That's my life now."
Griffin even said that this kind of verbal harassment was the main reason for all of
her initial tour cancellations, since her detractors also began calling her scheduled
venues and threatening physical harm to Griffin while she was on stage.
Supporting Stormy
Given that Griffin is, shall we say, not a fan of Donald Trump, it probably doesn't come
as a surprise that she rallied behind adult entertainer Stormy Daniels' crusade to expose
her alleged affair with the president.
Griffin's first overture to Daniels came via Twitter when she announced that she would
contribute $2,500 to the whistleblowing adult film star's legal defense fund.
Griffin tweeted,
"I know what it's like to go up against the Trump machine.
You're very brave to do this and I want to do my part."
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