'Nervous' Kathy Griffin Speaks Out on Major Surgery As Vocal Cord Paralyzed

Kathy Griffin has revealed that she will be undergoing surgery on Tuesday, after her vocal cords were damaged during surgery related to her lung cancer diagnosis. The comedian, 63, announced that she was diagnosed with the disease in August 2021, before going on to reveal in November of that year that she was cancer-free. Despite her recovery from cancer, she has dealt with issues resulting from the treatment she underwent, including concerns that her voice may never return to its original pitch after surgery left it higher than usual. In a TikTok video posted on Monday, the Suddenly Susan star revealed that she was hours away from going into surgery in the hopes of remedying the issue.

"I'm just hopping on here to say that I'm having surgery tomorrow morning, bright and early," Griffin said in the clip. "I'm getting an implant in my left vocal cord, which was left permanently paralyzed during my lung cancer surgery, where they took out half my left lung. I also have an aperture, which is a tear above my vocal cords, and that's why sometimes when I'm doing standup, my voice goes to a higher pitch." Getting candid about her feelings, the star shared: "I'm never nervous before surgery—and I've had quite a few—but I am a little nervous about this one because it's my voice, and I've already gone through it once with, you know, the voice problem. So anyway, wish me luck." Griffin added that after the surgery, she won't be able to "talk at all for two weeks, which is going to drive me crazy. So I'll be watching a lot of TikTok, and I won't be making any." "So anyway, that's the update. Always trying to make the voice better," she concluded. "So I don't have a show till August, and now I have to rest it. OK, there's the last thing I can say for two weeks." Griffin also shared the post to her Instagram account, where she received an outpouring of support from users including Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone, singer Debbie Gibson and former Savage Garden front man Darren Hayes. Newsweek has contacted a representative of Griffin via email for comment. In August 2022, Griffin wrote on X, formerly Twitter, about the surgeon who had removed a portion of her lung. Stating that her situation "sucks," Griffin said of the surgeon: "He ruined my vocal chords & my arytenoids permanently! My voice is my living." The TV personality revealed that she was cancer-free during a December 2021 appearance on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she also explained why her voice sounded different. She told Kimmel: "You're not going to believe this... I've never smoked but I got lung cancer. In August, I had half of my left lung removed I'm not even kidding." Explaining that the use of an intubation tube had affected her vocal cord, she quipped: "So now I'm like Minnie Mouse meets Marilyn Monroe." "It will heal, but I'm sort of enjoying [my voice]," she continued. "I'm a good two octaves higher, I think...It's higher than Mariah Carey, I know that." Griffin revealed in March 2023 her doctors' theory that her lung cancer may have been caused by radon poisoning. A product of decaying uranium, radon is a naturally occurring gas that can be traced to soil and rock breaking down. It is odorless, tasteless and invisible, and often enters closed buildings through their foundations. Most people are largely unaware that their homes could be putting their health at risk in this way. The only way to know if radon is in your home is to have a test done. It collects at higher concentrations indoors than outdoors, and levels can fluctuate depending on airflow in the home. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, and kills approximately 21,000 Americans per year, many of whom are unknowingly poisoned in their homes. Several states have radon regulation programs mandating that hazards are disclosed upon the sale of a home, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.