Ellen DeGeneres confirmed that she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to England after President Donald Trump won a second term. In a recent BBC interview, DeGeneres revealed that the couple had originally planned to split time between countries. But when they woke up the morning after the 2024 election, their plans changed.
“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis,” the comedian and former talk show host told the outlet. “And I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
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Adjusting to life in the UK
The couple bought a home in England’s Cotswolds region. DeGeneres said the move brought unexpected joy and a new sense of peace.
“It’s clean,” she said. “Everything here is just better — the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.”
She added that the timing of the move wasn’t the best, but it felt right.
“We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time,” she said. “But I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia has her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”
Concern over US same-sex marriage rights
DeGeneres also spoke out about recent threats to marriage equality in the U.S., referring to the Southern Baptist Convention’s June endorsement of a movement to reverse the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.
“They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it,” DeGeneres said. “Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”
The vote from more than 10,000 Southern Baptist delegates aimed to push back on rulings like Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples the right to marry throughout the U.S. in 2015.
Reflecting on showbiz backlash
DeGeneres also discussed her 2020 workplace controversy that led to the end of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2022.
In a 2024 Netflix comedy special, she said she was “kicked out” of the show business. In the BBC interview, she revisited how accusations that she oversaw a toxic workplace environment shifted her career trajectory.
“I’m a direct person, and I’m very blunt, and I guess sometimes that means that … I’m mean?” she said. “How dare us have any kind of mood. You can’t be anything other than nice and sweet and kind and submissive and complacent.”
What’s next for Ellen?
Though she says she misses certain parts of her former talk show, DeGeneres admitted the format wouldn’t work in today’s world, where most viewers are on their phones.
She hasn’t announced her next move , but says whatever she does next, she will choose it more carefully.
