Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, have left the United States and they don’t plan to return.
DeGeneres, 66, and de Rossi, 51, moved out of their Montecito, California home and relocated to the Cotswolds, a rural region of England about two hours outside of London, according to a report from TMZ.
The couple, who married in 2008, plan to sell their California property and are still mulling over how much to ask for it. They sold their other mansion, a 10-acre property in Santa Barbara County, for $96 million in August.
DeGeneres recently concluded her “Ellen’s Last Stand” tour, which came with an accompanying Netflix special titled “For Your Approval.”
In the special, DeGeneres opened up about being, in her words, “kicked out of show business” following the toxic workplace allegations that surfaced around her time hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2003 to 2022. She told the audience she is proud of who she has become in the aftermath of the scandal.
“[I’m] just a multifaceted person with different feelings and emotions, and I can be happy and sad and compassionate or frustrated,” she said. “I have OCD and ADD. I’m honest. I’m generous. I’m sensitive and thoughtful. But I’m tough and I’m impatient and I’m demanding. I’m direct. I’m a strong woman.”
She added that after spending her entire career worried about what other people think of her, she “just can’t anymore.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘What other people think of me is none of my business.’ People will say and think all kinds of things and you have no control over that. But you know the truth and that’s all that matters,” DeGeneres said. “But that is easier said than done. Because being in this business, I’ve had to care what people think. Because being a comedian or a host, it’s our only real currency for success. If they like you, you’re in, and if they don’t, you’re out. And I’ve spent an entire lifetime trying to make people happy, and I’ve cared far too much what other people think of me.”
DeGeneres has made such honesty a staple of her act over the years and has been candid about coming out and the challenges she faced being a lesbian in show business.
She met de Rossi in 2000, three years after she first came out. Their relationship didn’t turn romantic until 2004, and when it did, de Rossi said it gave her the courage to be open about her sexuality as well.
“I respect her so much. She was so courageous and so loud in ’97, and now she is doing something that is more subliminal,” de Rossi told The Advocate in 2005. “She’s changing the world, she really is, and it’s exciting to be a part of that.”
When the allegations against DeGeneres first arose, de Rossi stood by her wife and she doesn’t appear to have wavered. On the couple’s 16th wedding anniversary on August 16, Ellen wrote via Instagram “I’m so lucky to be loved by the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I love you Portia. You’re my everything.”
