Kathy Griffin’s older sister Joyce died Thursday night following a battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Joyce Patricia Griffin, 65, was undergoing chemotherapy in the months before, which inspired the comedienne to shave her head in solidarity with her sister.
Kathy, 56, posted a video on Twitter of her sister smiling and listening to a song at the hospital. She included a link to donate to the American Cancer Society as well.
Kathy tweeted: ‘My sister Joyce passed away peacefully last night. Check out this beautiful moment. Support @AmericanCancer here.’
Kathy Griffin posted a video of her sister Joyce (left) smiling in the hospital while people sang to her. The comedienne shaved her head in July out of solidarity to Joyce while she was undergoing chemotherapy
She ended the video with a cartoon of Joyce on the beach, writing: ‘This is where she always wanted to be. And now she is having a Mai Tai on the beach in heaven.’
In July, Kathy spoke for the first time about her sister’s battle with cancer by posting a photo of her shaved head on Twitter.
Her mother Maggie later took to the website to comment on the show of support and added, ‘My daughter Kathleen Mary is a wonderful human being’
In a Wall Street Journal interview in 2015, Kathy said she shared a room with Joyce while they were growing up.
Kathy , an Oak Park, Illinois native, has a tragic family past with cancer. She lost her brother Gary, 63, three years ago in the wake of a what she called ‘a brutal struggle’ with esophageal cancer in an Instagram post memorializing her lost sibling.
Kathy tweeted a video and a link to donate to the American Cancer Society when she announced her sister’s passing (pictured with her sister Joyce and mother Maggie)
The My Life on the D-List personality has kept a low profile over the summer amid the controversy that erupted in May when she posed in an photo holding a severed head resembling Donald Trump.
Amid the backlash when the photo was published, Griffin lost a New Year’s Eve gig with CNN, and a scolding from the commander-in-chief.
‘Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself,’ Trump tweeted. ‘My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!’
Kathy is no longer under investigation for the photo.