Kathy Griffin gleefully announces she's 'cancer-free' after having half of her lung removed

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By Nika Shakhnazarova

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Kathy Griffin has revealed that she's finally cancer-free.

The My Life on the D-List star, 61, made the announcement during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel this week.

After revealing her lung cancer diagnosis in August, Griffin told the talk show host that she had successful surgery to remove the cancer.

Watch Kathy Griffin open up about being cancer-free here:

"I'm cancer-free," she exclaimed as the studio audience cheered and applauded.

Griffin shared earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer. When she appeared on Kimmel's show, she had a breathier, higher voice after undergoing surgery - and she was quick to crack a joke about it.

"I had surgery, you're not going to believe this - so, I've never smoked but I got lung cancer. In August, I had half of my left lung removed," I'm not even kidding," she said, before explaining that her voice was temporarily altered by an intubation tube affecting her vocal cord.

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Credit: Sipa US / Alamy

"So now I'm like Minnie Mouse meets Marilyn Monroe," Griffin quipped. "It will heal, but I'm sort of enjoying it. I'm a good two octaves higher, I think. It's higher than Mariah Carey, I know that."

When Kimmel asked: "Did the doctors get it all? They got all the lung cancer out of there?" Griffin confirmed that her tumor had been fully removed.

"Yes! So I'm cancer-free," she said. "I don't know why, I had a tumor, right? And I've never smoked, and it was in there for 10 years. So get this, they took it out, and they found it on another scan. So I go in, and here's the thing: when you're a comic, it's horrible when the doctors want to do their material on you."

Griffin explained: "So I go in, and he's describing how they take half your lung out, and he goes, 'It's kind of like a balloon. So we do it laparoscopically and we poke it.' And then he goes, 'And when we take it out, it kind of looks like a used condom.' And then he goes, 'You can use that.'"

Back in August, Griffin took to social media to share that she has lung cancer - despite never having smoked. She also revealed that she would be undergoing surgery to "have half of my left lung removed".

The following day, the 60-year-old comedian successfully underwent the procedure, telling her 2 million Twitter followers: "Wow! I'm so grateful for all the love you guys are sending me. My cancer surgery went well yesterday. Phew."

Featured image credit: Paul Smith / Alamy