Kathy Griffin has opened the doors of her $10.5 million Hollywood mansion for a YouTube video. Photo / YouTube
Kathy Griffin has revealed that she built a special wall to separate her sprawling California mansion from her neighbour's home, after he began screaming insults over to her in the wake of her controversial decapitated Trump picture.
The comedienne, 57, explained the story behind the architectural upgrade while giving a tour of her lavish $10.5 million home to YouTube star Shane Dawson, 30, his mother Teresa Yaw, 59, his boyfriend Ryland Adams, 27, and several of his friends.
During a video posted on Shane's channel, which detailed how the intimate at-home meeting came about, Kathy gave the group a full tour of the Bel Air property, and explained as she took them out onto a large terrace that runs across the back of it why she "had to build a wall... as Trump would say".
The TV star claimed that the Trump-supporting neighbour in question has been regularly screaming insults at her ever since she posed for her infamous photo depicting her holding up a mask that looked like President Donald Trump's decapitated head.
"I have a neighbour on this side and for some reason, ever since my Trump picture, he stands there and screams 'Hey you f*****g d**e, you f*****g c**t,'" she said.
"We kind of built, like a little... As Trump would say, we built a wall. I'm not a Trump supporter, but we built a wall."
The photo, released in May 2017, led to uproar against Kathy and to her being fired from her New Year's Eve program on CNN, which she had co-hosted since 2007. Her remaining tour dates were also all canceled.
As it turns out, the scandal also caused neighbourhood issues for Kathy.
While Kathy didn't identify the man she discussed in Shane's video, she and her neighbour Jeffrey Mezger, the 63-year-old CEO of KB Homes, have been involved in a legal battle since last year.
In September 2017, Jeffrey was caught in an audio recording lashing out at Kathy's boyfriend Randy, referring to the comedienne as a "bald d**e" and a "c***" after Randy filed a noise complaint against Jeffrey's grandchildren, as reported by the Huffington Post at the time.
In January this year, Kathy and Jeffrey faced off in a Los Angeles court after each filing a restraining order against each other.
Kathy told a judge that Kim and Kanye West were better neighbours than Jeffrey and his wife, and that she never had any problem with them, The Blast wrote at the time.
The two tried to reach a settlement in court but couldn't agree.
Last week, Jeffrey and his wife filed a lawsuit against Kathy and Randy, claiming that the pair illegally took audio and video recordings of their own backyard, The Blast reported.
However, beyond the one moment on the balcony when she opens up about the difficulties she has faced in the wake of her controversial photo shoot, Kathy does not address the drama in any more detail during the video - which Shane reveals at the start of the clip came about because his mother is such a big fan of the comedienne.
Having connected with Shane online, Kathy then invited the group to visit her extravagant mansion, where she proudly showed them her private movie theater, her 12-car parking garage, and her 11 different bathrooms.
Kathy opened the door of her mansion to Shane, Teresa, Ryland, as well as Shane's cameraman Andrew Siwicki, 25, Morgan Adams, Ryland's 20-year-old sister, and Garrett Watts, 29.
She gave Teresa a warm hug while Shane's mother shed tears upon meeting her idol.
"Oh God, does she think she won the house?" Kathy joked. "Honey, you're not getting the house."
The comedian then offered to give the group a tour of the house, which she called "a big FU" to everyone who underestimated her in the past.
She had Teresa sign a guest book, explaining it was given by Joan Rivers who said only famous people were allowed to leave messages in it. Teresa signed the page next to a note written by Kim Kardashian, 37, who lives next door according to Kathy.
The group giggled as they realized Kim had drawn a heart in the middle of the sentence "I can't wait to be your Liz Taylor", presumably to hide a spelling mistake between the words "to" and "be".
"Do you want a house tour?" Kathy asked once Teresa was done writing. "What's your plan?"
Shane's boyfriend Ryland thus kicked off the house tour by declaring: "We all have to pee."
Kathy proudly revealed she has 11 bathrooms in her mansion, meaning she had no problem accommodating the group.
As the group made their way to the first bathroom, Kathy showed them a bedroom decorated with one of her sold-out posters from 2015, as well as a copy of the humorous book Is Your Dog Gay? by cartoonist Victoria Roberts.
Megan asked Kathy: "Do you have kids? Do you want one?"
"Uh... no," Kathy replied. "I feel my audience is my children."
The comedian was married to Matt Moline from 2001 to 2006. She has been in a relationship with Randy Bick, 39, a marketing executive, since 2012.
Kathy then took the group into her walk-in closet, filled to the brim with purses, shoes, and clothes.
The group marvelled at Kathy's wardrobe, and when Shane asked: "What's the most expensive thing in here?" the comedian took a moment to ponder his question.
However, the clip doesn't reveal the answer, and sees Kathy's guests follow her onto the large terrace area, as she announces: "We have a lot more house to see!"
It is then that she shares details about the wall, before continuing on with the rest of the tour.
After showing Shane and his friends her deck and her wall, she proudly told Teresa that Randy has his own bathroom and walk-in closet inside the home.
She then took them to the elevator she has inside her mansion, asking the group: "Don't make fun of me, I have an elevator."
Kathy, who shaved her head in July last year to support her sister Joyce after she was diagnosed with cancer, showed the group her "glamour room" full of wigs matching her signature red tone.
She explained that she's now in an "awkward phase" of the regrowth process and took off the wig she was wearing to further make her point.
Kathy's tour also included views of her "front living room", kitchen, bar, fridges full of diet sodas and La Croix cans, as well as her wine room, which she unveiled after declaring: "Tell me this isn't the biggest wine room you've ever seen."
When Shane asked about the price of the house, Kathy promptly stated it had cost her $10.5 million.
She showed the group her theater room and her laundry room, commenting: "This laundry room is so much nicer than my studio apartment I lived in for nine years."
Kathy also took them to her underground parking, which has room for 12 cars. Shane asked her which of the several vehicles parked underneath the house is Kathy's, leading her to fake outrage at the idea that she could be caught driving something other than her precious Maserati.
"The Maz. Don't ask a stupid f*****g question like that again. It's obviously the Maserati," she said. "I'm gonna slap you in your f*****g face. What do you think I have a Ford Escape? I have a f*****g Maserati and I paid for it cash you son of a b***h."
The comedienne then took Shane and his friends to the prep kitchen, where she uncovered a nondescript bag full of an unknown substance and wondered out loud: "Is this a bag of Coke? I'm really embarrassed."
She and Shane then took time to talk about the "Trump thing" away from the group in one of Kathy's bedroom, allowing the comedienne to discuss the controversy openly.
"That moment was very public," she said. "The whole country turned on me, and I mean left, right, and center. So I mean I had friends, people I had known for a long time, tweeting 'Go away, you're horrible, you're disgusting.'"
Kathy explained she decided to apologise after Rosie O'Donnell said the image reminded people of ISIS imagery, adding: "I was an absolute wreck."