Kathy Griffin spent her decades-long career courting controversy and proudly proclaiming her status on the "D-list." But with a single photograph, she became notorious, her career suddenly in turmoil and her name on a no-fly list. Now, she's turned her experience into a new film. Part documentary, part standup special, "A Hell of a Story" is coming to theaters across the country as a Fathom events special on July 31.

"I still don't have a day of paid work ahead of me for the rest of my life," Griffin revealed on "Salon Talks, adding, "The death threats are still coming."

Griffin has learned a great deal in the past two years, from what constitutes First Amendment protected speech to who her friends are. "A lot of the guys who came at me after the photo,' she said, "the Jeff Zuckers and the agency heads and the studio heads - these are the same guys who told me twenty years ago my nose is too big or I'm too old or too ugly. I've generated billions of dollars for these companies. I'm an earner."

After the photo, "I lost about 75 percent of my friends, and they just didn't come back," she said. "I'm still in a phase where I'm 'toxic.'" But, she noted, "I've been a one-man band my whole career anyway. Thank God for stand up and thank God nobody can stop people from buying tickets. It's so important to me to show younger people, gay people, people of color, marginalized groups, that they got me but they never got me down. That's really what life is. You have to keep getting up. And that's what I love about comedy."

Watch the episode above to hear more about Griffin's run-ins with the Secret Service and what she really thinks about Vice President Mike Pence and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.