Yahoo Finance Kathy Griffin Reveals She Attempted Suicide in 2020: 'It Became Almost an Obsessive Thought'
Kathy Griffin is opening up about the darkest chapter of her life, which included a suicide attempt in 2020.
The comedian, who announced her lung cancer diagnosis on social media Monday morning, discusses the news in an interview airing tonight on ABC News' Nightline. She also delves into her mental health journey, her addiction to pills, a suicide attempt, her newfound sobriety and more.
In one clip from the interview, Griffin, 60, recalls the time she attempted to take her life.
"I started thinking about suicide more and more as I get into the pill addiction," Griffin, 60, tells co-anchor Juju Chang. "And it became almost an obsessive thought. I started really convincing myself it was a good decision."
"I got my living revocable trust trust in order. I had all my ducks in a row. I wrote the note, the whole thing," she continues. "And I just thought, 'I'll just take a bunch of pills, and I will just go to sleep.'"
Nightline
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Following the suicide attempt, Griffin said she got in touch with a doctor, and that her husband Randy Bick helped her get treatment.
Of her addiction, Griffin said she was first introduced to pills via Provigil, a prescription medicine used to treat the symptoms of excessive sleepiness. She said she was later prescribed Ambien to help her sleep, and then painkillers after various injuries.
Griffin, who does not drink, said she began seriously abusing the pills after she sparked widespread outrage for posing with a replica of then-President Donald Trump's bloodied, decapitated head in her hand in 2017.
"To be honest, it really kicked into high-gear when the Trump thing happened," she tells Chang in another clip from the sit-down. "Prior to then, I'm going to say I was, like, dallying with a pill addiction in a way that wasn't good. But then, after that happened [with Trump], I just thought, 'Who cares?'"
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Griffin is currently in recovery after going through a "nasty" months-long detox. Throughout the process, she says she has come to recognize a "silver lining" in her sobriety.
"I am so thrilled and grateful [that] at 60, I'm going to get a next chapter," she says in another Nightline clip. "That's the thing everyone said wasn't going to happen, [and it was something] I believed wasn't going to happen. And even I thought, even if I do get a next chapter, what is that? Me sitting around and never working again? And no — I think, kind of, anything is possible."
Griffin underwent surgery to remove the cancerous tumor in her lung on Monday. "She is now out of surgery and everything went well, per her doctor," her rep told PEOPLE.
The full Nightline interview airs tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
