Kathy Griffin shaves her head in support of sister suffering from cancer

Comedian Kathy Griffin has shaved off her signature red hair in support of her sister Joyce who has been diagnosed with cancer.

Photos of Griffin's new look popped up on social media on 31 July. In one the actress is seen patting her bald head while in another, her mother Maggie acts shocked as she touches her daughter's scalp. She later tweeted praise for the show of solidarity. "My daughter Kathleen Mary is a wonderful human being," she posted.

It has not been confirmed what type of cancer Joyce has been diagnosed with but the news must have come as a blow to the Griffin family who already lost another member to the disease. In 2014, Gary Griffin, the Dirty Love actress' elder brother, died after fighting a two-year battle with stage-four esophageal cancer. He was 63 years old at the time.

Griffin, 56, has been having a problematic few months. She was in trouble with the public and government over a controversial photo in which she posed with a fake severed head of US President Donald Trump. In late July, she was finally cleared by law enforcement. "I am no longer under federal investigation. The case is closed, I have been completely exonerated. Finally," she wrote on Twitter on 29 July.