Pop Culture

Kathy Griffin Spills on Dating, Andy Cohen, and That Trump Photo on ‘The Good Guys’

November 10, 2025

Kathy Griffin came to The Good Guys ready to talk—and nothing was off-limits. Hosts Josh Peck and Ben Soffer covered it all, too. Her latest dating escapades (thanks to Sia), the aftermath of her infamous Trump photo, her friendship fallout with Andy Cohen, and her refreshingly honest take on facelifts.

Below are highlights from the conversation, adapted from The Good Guys podcast.

So you’re on the dating apps?

“Yes, I, Kathy Griffin, am on the dating apps because I was dared by the singer ‘Chandelier Unstoppable’ (Sia). So I was at her house with Nia Vardalos from the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise. So she’s got some dough, not like you two… They dared me to go on the apps, and then they filled out my forms for me because Sia just grabbed my phone and she goes, ‘gimme the phone. I know you better than you know yourself.’”

Are you worried about catfish situations?

“I’m afraid to be catfished. So right before I got here, I made a guy do a Zoom with me to make sure he was really the guy he is in this picture, because I’ve watched every episode of Catfish.”

What kind of guy are you looking for?

“He has to have a job at health insurance. Is that, is my bar too high?… I have never been taken on a vacation in my life. I have taken guys to Bali. I have taken my men to Hawaii and stayed at the Britney Spears suite, which your older audiences will know. And I have done it upright, and now I’ve been the sugar mama and I’m ready for the guy to pick up every tab. You don’t have to pay any of my bills, but I want you to pick up every tab when we go out. And I would like to be taken on a fancy vacation.”

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You went through hell for that Trump photo. What really happened afterward?

“I was investigated by two agencies within the DOJ. They were trying to charge me with the crime of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. I was on the no-fly list. I was on the Interpol list, which is the international version of the No-Fly list. And I was on the five IS list, which is the ISIS terror watch list…

…I actually have done standup in Iraq and Afghanistan as well… Which, by the way, prior to the Trump photo, bought me no Goodwill. When the Trump photo happened, the military turned on me immediately, even though I had actually gone to perform under fire in war zones. You know, there was one when I went to Iraq, it was on my former TV show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, which you can watch on Peacock if you want to…

…They just freaking followed me around for six months hoping I would do crazy shit. And I went to Afghanistan off camera and that was very moving and all the things you would think and scary. But then they said, ‘Would you go back to Iraq and bring the crew?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’ because so many of the men and women over there, when I went to Afghanistan, it would break my heart. They would come up to me and say, ‘Go home and don’t let America forget that we’re here.’”

Do you ever wish you’d handled that differently?

“My only regret with that whole incident is [that] I had one bad experience with one of my lawyers. The rest of ’em are geniuses. They’re really brilliant, and she suggested I apologize because I imagine if someone had invoked my name during God forbid, an American Service member being hurt in any way, I don’t care if they got a scratch. If anyone ever said, ‘I’m doing this because of Kathy Griffin,’ having been in Iraq and Afghanistan and face-to-face with these young men and women, that would’ve killed me. So I did make the mistake of apologizing for one day, and that’s just been weaponized against me. And so their team, I now double down on that photo. I’m now proud of it. I think that it will certainly live on. The great Jane Fonda said, ‘This is gonna be on your tombstone kid.’ And she’s right. And so that’s why I talk about it. ’cause I, I know people wanna ask, and it’s a, it’s an unprecedented thing. It’s never happened to a civilian in this country, much less a comedian.”

You’re very open about your facelifts—why be so honest?

“I’ve had three facelifts… I have been paparazzied on my daily walk… If you’re listening or watching this, imagine you’re at the height of a workout and someone takes a close-up of your face. Sure. Not the most flattering photos. And then they always put a side of me, like now where I have fake eyelashes on, I’ve got a little magic hair in some of this hair out of my head. Some of it came from a gay man—a gay donor—and so, I have to just laugh because I’ve decided that it means I’m famous that I’m getting, they call it paparazzi photography as you know, the lingo. And so the facelift, when I decided to talk about it on my little YouTube show, took off. I mean, I thought that doctor was gonna propose. He was so excited. So yes. I also think foolishly every actress or woman is gonna talk about having their face work, but no, it’s not. It’s just me.”

You brought up Joan Rivers—what did she mean to you?

“I’m gonna be serious for a minute. I loved her, like a sister, like a mother, like an aunt, like a cousin. I just, I loved every minute I spent with her…

…I actually think when you’re a chick comedian, they just go for your looks. Like, my comments from Trumpers are just about my dry vagina, which I don’t have. You’re welcome. And how ugly I am, and I think that’s probably why Joan did so much, because she was really pretty. I think after hearing that day in and day out, I remember I’m from a generation where these agents thought nothing back in the day of saying stuff like, yeah, they loved your audition, but they’re gonna go attractive. Sorry. Or, oh, I have that. Yeah, you with a nose job, you might have a chance. But, um, you know, so I went and got a nose job.”

You mentioned Andy Cohen earlier—what’s that relationship like now?

“He won. He won the Game of Life. He’s the executive there. He’s probably why I am not there anymore. He decides who the housewives are and who they’re not. He’s got a nightly show. I will say it is interesting to me that never in the history of television has the guy who decides what shows are on the air, given himself a show that gets magically picked up every year while other shows get canceled…But he was a difficult boss. When I was doing My Life on the D-List, I think that my part of it was that I was too direct, and I think I thought I could talk like the guys that I work with talk, which is like, guys are no bullshit. They just go, ‘That’s a shitty note. I’m not doing it.’

If I could do it again,I probably, and this is terrible advice, I’m like ashamed I’m being a bad feminist right now. I would probably have been kinder and gentler with Andy because I think he probably just thought, ‘I am kind of, I kind of wanna be her.’ Like he gave himself a show, he took the CNN New Year’s Eve job. He likes being on television. I had never worked with an executive like that, so I was used to talking like a producer and going, ‘This is good. This sucks. No, don’t cut this, please cut this.’ And I think that’s not probably the best way to deal with it.”

Do you think you’ll ever patch things up?

“He’s been pretty tough on me publicly. You know, there’s a TMZ tape where somebody asks about him taking over the New Year’s Eve job, which was really a dagger to me. ‘Cause I really loved Anderson Cooper and I thought we were like real friends and the whole spiel. And he just keeps saying, ‘I don’t know who she is. I dunno who you’re talking about. I don’t know who she is.’ And I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think he’s wired that way to like figure out a way to kind of bury it and come together. I mean, let me, and this is someone that was in a 10 year beef with Demi Lovato. And I was able to squash that beef.”

For the full unfiltered interview with Griffin, listen to The Good Guys—available now.