Kathy Griffin: President Trump 'personally trying to ruin my life forever'

Speaking at a news conference with her lawyers by her side, comedian Kathy Griffin said Friday that President Donald Trump and the first family are “personally trying to ruin my life forever.”

Griffin talked for more than 20 minutes about the fallout from the controversial photo she posted earlier this week of a fake "beheaded" Donald Trump.

Griffin reiterated on Friday that she apologizes for the actual photo.

“Regarding the image that I participated in, that apology absolutely stands. I feel horrible,” she said.

Griffin said as a comedian, she’s going to make fun of the president. But she has no desire to actually harm him.

Griffin became emotional talking about her future.

“I don’t think I will have a career after this. I’m going to be honest, he broke me,” she said.

CNN announced earlier this week that Griffin would no longer appear in CNN's New Year's Eve program in the wake of controversy over a graphic photo that showed the comedienne pretending to behead President Donald Trump.

The tweet said, "Kathy Griffin, under fire for provocative political photos, dropped as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve program."

Griffin originally defended the photo shoot in a pair of since-deleted tweets Tuesday.

"Obviously, I do not condone any violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever," she wrote. "I'm merely mocking the Mocker in Chief."

She later apologized for the photo and said she would ask the photographer to take down the image.

"I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I'm a comic, I crossed the line," she said. "I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn't funny. I get it."

Griffin first started co-hosting CNN's New Years Eve broadcast with journalist Anderson Cooper in 2007.

She was criticized for her behavior during the 2012 New Years Eve show, in which viewers questioned her apparent groping of Cooper, who had recently come out as gay.

Cox Media Group