Sia was suicidal and checked herself into rehab after receiving major backlash from the public over directing a controversial 2021 film about autism.
Speaking to the New York Times about Kathy Griffin — who was “canceled” following a 2017 photo shoot in which she held a fake decapitated Donald Trump head — the “Chandelier” singer revealed the comedian pulled her out of her depression.
“I was suicidal and relapsed and went to rehab,” Sia told The New York Times in the profile piece published Wednesday. “She saved my life.”
Amid the backlash, Sia said Griffin took her to Hollywood hot spot Craig’s so paparazzi would take their photo together and change the conversation in the media. The next day, The Daily Mail ran the photos.
“We were joking that we were on ‘Survivor: Hollywood,’” Sia told the Times.
“Music,” which was written and directed by Sia, was centered around the story of a teenager with autism, but she was lambasted by disability rights activists for casting Maddie Ziegler, who was not on the autism spectrum. The movie, also starring Kate Hudson, was nominated for two Golden Globes that year and four Golden Raspberry Awards.
Several actors with autism spoke out against Sia’s film including actress Chloé Hayden., who told the Times that casting Ziegler was “undermining autistic people’s capabilities and making us out to be infants.” Hayden also said, “If your film is about inclusion, but you’re not making the actual film set inclusive, it completely belittles the entire point.”
Sia initially defended her casting choices, claiming at the time, “I cast thirteen neuroatypical people, three trans folk, and not as f–king prostitutes or drug addicts but as doctors, nurses and singers.”
She added, “F–king sad nobody’s even seen the dang movie. My heart has always been in the right place.”
But Sia walked back her defense and later apologized for her choices before deleting her Twitter.
“I’m sorry,” she had tweeted, according to Rolling Stone. “I plan to remove the restraint scenes from all future printings. I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough.”
Meanwhile, Griffin’s photo shoot at the time led to her comedy tour being canceled and she was axed from her CNN New Year’s Eve hosting gig.