Kathy Griffin: I had surgery for lung cancer

Kathy Griffin revealed Monday she has lung cancer, and hours later she was on the other side of a surprise surgery that removed half of her left lung.

“Yes I have lung cancer even though I’ve never smoked!” she said in a social media statement posted Monday morning. By the afternoon, her rep confirmed the major operation was a success.

“Surgery went well and as planned. Kathy is now in recovery now and resting,” Alex Spieller of the Initiative Group told the Daily News.

“Doctors say the procedure was normal without any surprises,” Spieller said.

In her note to fans, Griffin said her doctors are “optimistic” after catching the Stage 1 cancer so early, while it was still contained in her left lung.

“Hopefully no chemo or radiation after this and I should have normal function with my breathing,” she wrote. “It’s been a helluva 4 years, trying to get back to work, making you guys laugh and entertaining you, but I’m gonna be just fine,” she wrote.

She said the hope is that she’ll be up and running around as usual in a month or less.

Griffin ended the note by encouraging everyone to get their COVID-19 vaccine.

“Of course I am fully vaccinated for COVID. The consequences for being unvaccinated would have been even more serious. Please stay up to date on your medical check ups. It’ll save your life,” she wrote.

In an interview airing Monday night, the 60-year-old comedian told ABC News’ “Nightline” that she was “definitely in shock” over the diagnosis.

“I’m still a little bit in shock,” she said. “Not in denial, but once a day, I’ll turn to nobody next to me and go, ‘Can you believe this s—t? Is this a b—-h or what?’ ”

According to the American Cancer Society, as many as 20% of US patients who died from lung cancer in 2018 — roughly 30,000 people — never smoked or used any other form of tobacco.

Beyond smoking, the main risk factors that can lead to a lung cancer diagnosis include exposure to secondhand smoke, radon gas, asbestos and diesel exhaust.

Each year, about 7,000 adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing secondhand smoke, the American Cancer Society warns.

Days before sharing her cancer journey, Griffin posted a photo from what appeared to be the New Yorkbased set of a TV show, announcing she was “back at work ... where I belong.”