Kathy Griffin Opens Up About Her Cancer, 'Gnarly' Voice Surgery, PTSD and 'Coming Out of Cancellation' (Exclusive)

Kathy Griffin is finding her voice again! 

After undergoing surgery on her left vocal cord last month, the actress and comedian, 62, opens up exclusively to PEOPLE about the procedure and her recovery. In a candid and wide-ranging conversation, she shares details of her treatment for her recently diagnosed Complex PTSD and how she feels about her first solo show in Las Vegas in six years, occurring Saturday at The Mirage Theater.

Speaking to PEOPLE from the Malibu home she shares with husband Randy Bick, Griffin is smiling and upbeat, but admits the May 30 procedure on her vocal cord — which was damaged nearly two years earlier when she was treated for lung cancer — “was really gnarly.

“They use a hook to open your mouth,” Griffin explains, adding that general anesthesia was necessary during the 15-minute procedure, “because there's a freaking needle down my throat!

“Then they put a needle on a camera and they put it down your frickin’ throat,” she continues. “And then they inject your little teeny meanie vocal cord with this substance.

“Because my left cord is paralyzed, they actually inject this thing called Prolaryn Plus that's like collagen,” she adds, explaining that the injectable helps fatten the left vocal cord so it can meet the right vocal cord. This closing of the vocal cords helps to produce a clearer voice.

Known for her honest admissions on social media — and in real life — Griffin revealed in an Instagram post in August 2021 that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent a lobectomy to remove the disease in the same month. Despite receiving the all-clear, which she joyfully announced on The Jimmy Kimmel Show in December of the same year, she has since talked about the challenges of having a paralyzed left vocal cord following her cancer surgery and working as a comedian with a self-described “whisper voice.” 

“The thing that's been really crazy and kind of like, a mindf--k, is that when I had cancer, I had no symptoms, then I got the surgery where they took out half my left lung. And now it's like, I sound and feel like I have cancer,” she tells PEOPLE. “The thing that's frustrating is I actually sound like I'm in pain, but I'm not.” 

Although her latest surgery — which she will have to undergo every six months “because your body absorbs the substance” — has already seen a marked improvement in the way she speaks, she shares that the likelihood of her pre-cancer voice returning is slim. 

“This surgery gave me more resonance. So the voice that I have now I'm actually quite happy with. But they did tell me the prognosis is: It probably won't ever get better than this,” she says.

The outspoken comedian has faced more than her fair share of challenges in recent years, including a diagnosis of Complex PTSD that she revealed on TikTok in April. Yet Griffin is open and reflective, discussing her symptoms and treatment with the same candor fans know and love from her comedy shows. 

“What I have found mostly is that it's so much more common than anybody would think. And luckily, we're beyond the time when folks think PTSD is straight up just for combat veterans. And that was what I initially thought,” she says of the diagnosis. “Luckily, that science has advanced so that it can include someone like me. I was having these panic attacks. And the way they took form in me is like non-stop vomiting.” 

“Since my lobectomy, I have been plagued with this,” she continues. “I couldn't figure out: Why am I shaking all the time? Why does everything make me sick to my stomach?”

Griffin describes her "crippling" anxiety. "You know, when you're barfing, you can't go anywhere, you can't do anything, you're weak," and says that she eventually realized she could not tackle her panic attacks and PTSD alone.

“I have a team of people, I finally said, ‘I can't do this myself.’ I need to have alternative remedies. I have to be in acceptance that this is my new reality. And this is my new voice. And so I'm doing this thing called EMDR,” she says, explaining Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatment.

"You go back to something traumatic, like let's say it was my cancer diagnosis. But you work through it in a way where your brain can stop being stuck in the place of going: ‘Oh, my God, I'm gonna die. My career is over, my life is over. I have this horrible new voice that sounds like I'm on helium' " she explains. “Then you put it in a new place where you process it and go: ‘Hey, I got booked in Vegas. My career isn't over.’ " 

Describing her approach to treatment as “drug-free,” Griffin shares she has a “full court press”  that consists of EDMR, talking therapy, Kundalini Yoga classes, chanting mantras in a breathing class, acupuncture, cupping and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, five days a week, on zoom.  Although she draws the line at one natural therapy: “I'm afraid of essential oils, because that can be a cult. I saw a 60 Minutes on it,” she jokes, “Be careful of essential oils.”

Reflecting on what may have contributed to her PTSD, Griffin mentions the fallout from the 2017 photograph of her posing with a ketchup-covered replica head of former President Donald Trump. After the image was shared widely online, Griffin was fired from her annual New Year's Eve co-host job for CNN with Anderson Cooper and more than 25 theaters canceled her upcoming shows, something she now says as a “workaholic” who was used to touring “has been bizarre and awful.

“I feel like I lost my voice creatively. And then I got cancer, and I literally lost my voice. And honestly, I think that's kind of the PTSD,” she says of her career from 2017 on.  

But the treatments are giving her a new lease on life. “I have not vomited in months. I haven't had to cancel anything because of anxiety,” she says.

After dealing with all of these challenges, it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling comfortable about taking to the stage for a solo show in Las Vegas, yet Griffin delights in discussing just how ready she is for her upcoming performance at The Mirage.

"I absolutely am,” she smiles of the event, which is virtually sold out. "Which is unbelievable to me, because it's actually hard to sell tickets to Vegas, because it's a very last-minute town. And you know, that's real. Like money talks, b-------t walks. So I'm hoping that other buyers see my ticket sales and go, ‘Hey, she's not controversial anymore.’ ”

"I am coming out of my cancellation. And the cancer isn't killing me. I can still put together a show. I love writing," she says of her life now. "I don't know what's gonna work. I don't know what isn't. But that's a very different place than I was even six months ago."

The comedian adds that she doesn’t mention Trump in the new act, instead focusing on two hours of new material for the show that she says she is calling, "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The PTSD List."

Naturally, she has a few worries.

“What if I'm an hour and 10 minutes into the show, and my voice f-----g gives out? Like, I don't think it will. But of course, I have all those fears. What if my new material isn’t funny? What if they're not comfortable laughing at things like recovery?” 

The new show, she says, will share “the whole journey” since the Trump scandal, which includes her pill addiction and recovery, cancer diagnosis and being targeted online by conspiracy theorists, who believe, she says, that she is a lizard person, harvesting baby parts and living in Guantanamo Bay.

"Hold on, my scales are falling off!" she jokes, adding "But the millions of people that believe this stuff is actually frightening. So I'm anxious to talk about it."

Plus, there will be celebrity stories. “I went to Mexico with my girlfriend, Sia. There was one mishap after another, and it just turned out to be hilarious,” says Griffin.

Sia will be one of the well-known faces at the June 17 show, along with Stormy Daniels. “That's like a threesome picture, I want to get a good picture and make it a Christmas card,” Griffin jokes.

While the performance in Las Vegas show may be her first in six years — a “significant” moment for the comedian because the last show she performed before the infamous Trump photograph was also in Vegas — it probably won't be her last. Griffin can see the circularity of it all. 

“I feel like I figuratively lost my comedic voice because of the Trump photo scandal, I literally lost my voice due to the cancer surgery and now I finally have my voice back,” Griffin tells PEOPLE. “I’m a grateful, naughty comedian again!”

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.