Kathy Griffin Struggles With Surgery, Diet

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Kathy Griffin Struggles With Surgery, Diet

Posted Wednesday 02 September 01:18 PM By: PopEater Staff

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Comedian Kathy Griffin is opening up about her struggles with low self-esteem -- which lead her to try plastic surgery and weight loss diets. After moving to Hollywood, Griffin was pressured to look perfect and had her first surgery, a nose job, at age 26.

"I was told repeatedly, 'You would be pretty if it weren't for that nose. You'd work more if it weren't for that nose.' You would think I had a nose the size of Texas. I was young and impressionable and started to believe it, so I got a nose job," she told PEOPLE. And that was only the beginning.

During Griffin's big break on Brooke Shields' sitcom 'Suddenly Susan,' she felt pressure to slim down. "I lost 15 lbs. friggin fast in season 1. But being on television, I was never thin enough. [Being on TV] told me that clothes didn't come in anything larger than a four. That got to me," she said.

Griffin became obsessed with her weight taking back-to-back step aerobics classes, starving herself all day and then binging at night. And the diet pills she used were like, "full-on illegal speed," she joked. "I took it to lose weight, which is not very smart. I just felt three times as hungry afterward," she said.

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Star Jones' drastic weight loss -- and the controversial way she achieved it -- helped facilitate her exit from 'The View.' Now, she's apologizing to her former co-panelists. "I'm so sorry that I placed a burden on my colleagues. I never asked them to lie."

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In Jaime Pressly's memoir, the 'My Name is Earl' star describes the eating disorder she suffered as a young fashion model.

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Finally, Griffin decided to go under the knife for liposuction. But complications from the procedure nearly killed her. "I want women to know that this is what lipo looks like. Like, are you sure you don't want to just work out a little more?"

"What I can't figure out is why I wasted time worrying about my looks. I am a comedian. I'm not on the runway in Milan. Believe it or not, people don't come to see me really thinking I'm going to look like Jennifer Aniston," she said.

Today, Griffin is 5 feet 3 inches tall and 115 lbs. "Staying in shape is a struggle. I struggle with it every day. I just came from a very healthy lunch but the whole time I was having the healthy lunch I wished I was having cupcakes. It's not a simple thing. I have to watch what I eat and I have to work out quite a bit," Griffin said.

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Kathy Griffin Snapshots

Kathy Griffin arrives at NBC Universal's all-star press tour party on August 5, 2009 in Pasadena, California. More Photos >>

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Kathy Griffin Snapshots

Kathy Griffin performs at Hard Rock Live! in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 12, 2009 in Hollywood, Florida. Kathy Griffin Performs at Hard Rock Live! Hard Rock Live! in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL United States August 12, 2009 Photo by John Parra/WireImage.com To license this image (58097080), contact WireImage.com

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HOLLYWOOD, FL - AUGUST 12: Kathy Griffin performs at Hard Rock Live! in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 12, 2009 in Hollywood, Florida. (Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Kathy Griffin

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