Ellen DeGeneres has revealed that she and her spouse, former actress Portia de Rossi, have made plans to move permanently to the United Kingdom after Donald Trump was re-elected as president.
During a discussion with journalist Richard Bacon at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, which marked the beginning of her tour in Britain, the ex-talk show host shared that their initial plan was to spend only part of their time in the UK, according to the BBC.
“We arrived just a day before the election, and the next morning, we were bombarded with text messages filled with crying emojis from our friends,” she recounted. “That’s when I realized, ‘He has won.’ And we decided, ‘We’re going to stay here.’”
DeGeneres elaborated on their decision to stay, “It’s pristine here. Everything seems better — the way animals are cared for, the politeness of people. I absolutely adore it here.”
DeGeneres expressed particular concerns about the situation of LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage back in the U.S. She highlighted a recent national meeting of Southern Baptist delegates where the vast majority of the 10,000 attendees advocated for the reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that legalized gay marriage a decade ago. Moreover, legislators in nine states have introduced bills aiming to undermine the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling of 2015. She noted that the UK, despite its own challenges with queer rights highlighted by a recent study in the International Journal for Equity in Health regarding increasing transphobia, seemed a better place for now.
“The Baptist Church back home wants to overturn gay marriage,” stated DeGeneres. “They’re actively working to prevent it in the future and potentially undo it. Portia and I are looking into it, and if that happens, we plan to get married here in the UK.”
She further commented, “I long for a world where it isn’t frightening for individuals to be themselves. I dream of a society that embraces everyone’s differences. Until we reach that point, it’s difficult to claim we’ve made significant progress.”
DeGeneres also touched on the controversy that contributed to the end of her daytime TV show after 19 seasons in 2022. Reports of a toxic work environment and sexual misconduct by senior producers in 2020 prompted an internal investigation by Warner Bros., leading to significant changes on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, including the dismissal of three longtime executive producers and an apology from DeGeneres to both her staff and her audience. She most recently addressed these issues in her 2024 Netflix special.
“Regardless of the situation, it always came back to ‘She’s mean,’ and I struggled with how to respond without sounding like I’m playing the victim or complaining,” she explained. “I’m straightforward and blunt, and perhaps that’s misconstrued as being mean.”
She noted it was ridiculous that being labeled mean “could be the worst thing said about a woman”: “It’s outrageous that women are expected to always be nice, sweet, kind, submissive, and compliant,” she remarked.
Regarding the ending of her show, DeGeneres described it as “certainly an unpleasant experience” and expressed sadness over the enduring perception of her character, which she finds hurtful. “I despise the thought that people see me that way because I know myself to be empathetic and compassionate,” she said.
When asked if she misses her show, DeGeneres expressed interest in hosting a similar program in the UK, though she acknowledged that the industry seems to be moving in a different direction.
“I’d love to do it again here,” she concluded. “But it seems like these days, people are more focused on their phones, and they don’t pay as much attention to television anymore, given the overwhelming amount of information and entertainment available.”
Daniel Hayes is a business journalist with a focus on market trends, startups, and corporate strategies.
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