Devastated. Kathy Griffin revealed that her mother, Maggie Griffin, died on Tuesday, March 17, after suffering from dementia. She was 99.
The comedian, 59, took to Twitter to honor her late mother with an emotional tribute. “My Mom, the one and only, Maggie Griffin, passed away today. I am gutted. My best friend. I’m shaking,” Kathy wrote beside a photo of herself and her mom lounging in front of a pool. “I won’t ever be prepared. I’m so grateful you guys got to be part of her life. You knew her. You loved her. She knew it. Oh, and OF COURSE she went on St Patrick’s Day.”
My Mom, the one and only, Maggie Griffin, passed away today. I am gutted. My best friend. I’m shaking. I won’t ever be prepared. I’m so grateful you guys got to be part of her life. You knew her. You loved her. She knew it. Oh, and OF COURSE she went on St Patrick’s Day. 💔💔💔 pic.twitter.com/l9IZHuIWLb
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 18, 2020
The Emmy winner opened up about her mother’s “heartbreaking” diagnosis in a lengthy Twitter thread in January 2019. Kathy shared a snapshot from the previous September, admitting that it was “the last time I was able to have a proper/coherent conversation” with Maggie.
“Her mind was so naturally quick, funny, and smart,” the Suddenly Susan alum said of her family’s matriarch. “No one could get anything past her. Watching that slip away so fast has been devastating … In terms of how she is now, at this point she only knows my name and I love you. I know many of you know what that reality is like … I’m still grappling with it.”
Maggie made a living as a hospital administrator before joining her daughter on Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List and becoming a star in her own right. When the former Fashion Police star first spoke publicly of her mother’s declining health, she reflected on the special moments the two of them shared on the Bravo series.
“What I am most proud of when I comes to My Life On The D List is that show gave me the opportunity to show the world how naturally funny my parents were,” Kathy said in January 2019, acknowledging her late father, John Patrick Griffin, who died of heart failure in February 2007. “When people tell me they feel like they know my mom, I always respond, ‘You do!’ She never put on a show, she was the show.”
Maggie is survived by Kathy, along with sons Kenny Griffin and John Griffin. She was predeceased by son Gary and daughter Joyce, both of whom lost their battles with cancer in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
