Kathy Griffin is never one to shy away from being brutally honest about the world we live in today. She kept that tradition going in her latest interview with The Huffington Post that was published on Tuesday, February 18.
The fiery redhead’s career took a drastic turn in 2017 after she posed for that infamous photo with a fake bloodied Donald Trump head that drew support from some and vicious hate from others. A somewhat surprising celebrity that spoke out against what the 59-year-old did was Will & Grace star Debra Messing, who tweeted this about the situation at the time: “It wasn’t right when people hung lynched Obama effigies, just as what Kathy Griffin did isn’t right now.”
“Debra Messing did and it brought us closer,” Kathy revealed after being asked if the Emmy winner ever reached out and apologized to her. “She said, ‘I had no idea what you were actually going through.’ She was super, super sweet. I’ve known Debra for such a long time that I actually reached out to her because I was like, “Hey, I’m kind of surprised at your response.” She really has shown her support since then. She came to see me at Radio City Music Hall. She posted that my tour was great.”
The fall out from Kathy’s photo still resonates with her all this time later. “All that stuff really crashed down in a way that was so rapid that it taught me how to sift through these relationships, whether they’re Hollywood or non-Hollywood, while going through the biggest sort of trauma ― and legal battle ― of my life,” she said. “They were actively investigating me for conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States, which holds a lifetime sentence, and I was dealing with the fact that about 80% of my friends, people who represented me, people I had been earning money for, people I’ve been hanging out with, people I thought were a little stronger ― they just vanished. And I just kind of went, ‘OK, that sucks.’”
Kathy also touched on her hosting the Str8UpGayPorn Awards and how this wasn’t her first time emceeing an event like this. “I do find gay porn hot. I think I’ve only seen two in my lifetime,” she said. “Years ago, I hosted a different awards show called the GayVN Awards and, luckily, it was captured on Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List. At the GayVNs, my beloved friend Sister Roma gave me a sword from the Naked Sword porn company, and when the Trump photo scandal broke open and a federal investigation was opened, that sword was suddenly federal evidence.”
You can read more about that “sword” situation and Kathy’s full interview here.