Kathy Griffin says she lost ‘75% of her friends’ following Donald Trump head photo

Kathy Griffin has opened up about how the backlash to her gory photo holding a fake bloody replica of former President Donald Trump’s head had on her life.

The 63-year-old comedian also disclosed the shocking extent to which the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursued her in connection with her infamous photo.

Speaking on the Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast, Griffin expressed her astonishment at the seriousness of the DOJ’s actions.

Per Yahoo, Griffin revealed that she had received a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response, highlighting the government’s intent to charge her with the “crime of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States.”

In retrospect, Griffin acknowledged her “own stupidity” in underestimating the potential consequences of the controversial photo. She had naively believed that people were prepared to understand “level of dangerous” she perceived in the former president. Griffin initially assumed the image, taken alongside others, would gain fleeting attention on platforms like Instagram or on a “gay blog”.

Reflecting on the aftermath of the controversial incident, Griffin recounted her ordeal during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

She shared that both the Secret Service and the assistant U.S. attorney’s office had subjected her to a “two-month federal investigation.” They had contemplated charging her with the grave offense of “conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States.”

The comedian has revealed the extend the photo has had on her life. Credit: Monica Schipper / Getty

Additionally, Griffin disclosed the severe repercussions she faced, including being placed on the “no-fly list” and the International Criminal Police Organization list. These designations subjected her to constant scrutiny and delays at international airports, impacting her ability to travel freely.

The fallout from the controversial photo also took a personal toll on Griffin. She revealed how Anderson Cooper had publicly criticized her, labeling her actions as “disgusting.”

As a consequence, she experienced a significant loss of friends, with approximately “75 percent” of them choosing not to return to her life. “It was hard,” she told Colbert.

Former President Trump himself had responded to the controversial photo, posting on the platform now known as X (formerly Twitter) that Griffin should be “ashamed of herself.” He expressed concern for his children, particularly his then-11-year-old son, Barron, who was struggling with the disturbing image.

Griffin eventually issued an apology for the gory photograph she had created in collaboration with photographer Tyler Shields. In a video shared on social media, she sincerely expressed remorse, stating: “I am just now seeing the reaction to these images… I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it.”

At the time, Shields told EW: “We’d been talking about doing something and [Griffin] said to me, ‘I’m not afraid to get political if you want or make a statement if you want.’

“It’s always a collaborative process, especially with someone like Kathy, but it was one of those things where we didn’t know exactly what we were gonna do until we got [to the shoot].”