Comedian Ellen DeGeneres has quit life in the U.S. with a plan to settle in the U.K. following Donald Trump’s presidential election win, according to reports.
Former talk show host DeGeneres had backed Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, during the 2024 election cycle. However, her expressed wish to see Harris named the first woman president of the U.S. did not come true.
Hours after polls closed across the U.S. on November 5, Republican nominee Trump was declared the winner following a hotly-contested race that saw Harris step in just months ahead of Election Day after President Joe Biden dropped out.
In the several days since the result, a number of celebrities have taken to social media to share their views, with some celebrating and many others commiserating. Some stars who had vowed to move abroad rather than live under four years of a second Trump administration have yet to declare if they’re following through with their plans.
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According to The Wrap, DeGeneres has made good on her vow, purchasing a property in the Cotswolds, a picturesque region in the south-west of England that is around two hours from London.
TMZ has further reported that DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, snapped up their U.K. property before the election, but were “very disillusioned” with Trump’s victory and decided “to get the hell out” of the U.S.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of DeGeneres and Trump via email for comment.
The Cotswolds region is favored by many local celebrities. Actor Jamie Dornan, former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, and power couple David and Victoria Beckham are among those who have bought homes in the area over the years.
Perhaps as a sign of settling into their new lives across the pond, DeGeneres, 66, and de Rossi, 51, were featured in a video recently shared on Instagram by Clarkson’s partner Lisa Hogan. In the clip, which is geotagged in the Cotswold hills, the group is shown sitting together in Clarkson’s Family Dog pub as Irish family band The Corrs performs.
Actor and singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia is seen enthusiastically singing along while standing next to a seated Hogan, who pans the camera to DeGeneres and de Rossi as they share a friendly wave.
Former actor and screenplay writer Hogan captioned the footage: “@thecorrsofficial thanks for the acoustic check & for swooping by on your night off the tour! Trilled to confirm @thefarmersdogpub sounds great.”
Hogan rounded out the caption by tagging DeGeneres, de Rossi, and Imbruglia. Her partner Clarkson and singer James Blunt were also tagged, although they were not seen in the footage.
Where Do the Couple Own Properties?
DeGeneres and de Rossi had been living in a sprawling property in upscale Montecito, California, in Santa Barbara County. The glitzy town is home to several high profile names, including Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Comedian DeGeneres reportedly purchased the property in 2019, before she and her wife made it their primary residence. According to new reports, DeGeneres and de Rossi are now making plans to list the property.
In recent years, the couple had also bought and flipped a number of properties across Southern California. The New York Post reported in 2021 that their several real estate transactions over the years were valued at an estimated $450 million.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the stars sold a home in Beverly Crest off-market for $8.757 million in 2022, less than a year after buying it for $8.5 million.
It followed the 2021 sale of a Beverly Hills mansion that they had bought from Maroon 5 musician Adam Levine for $42.5 million in 2019. The couple walked away with $47 million after selling the home in 2021.
Per the Times, they also sold a Montecito compound for $33.3 million in 2020, less than a year after snapping it up for $27 million.
In her 2015 book Home, DeGeneres revealed that she had purchased and renovated 15 properties over the previous 25 years.
‘Kicked Out of Showbusiness’
A move to the U.K. would be a new chapter for DeGeneres, who has essentially bowed out of the entertainment world. In her recent Netflix special, For Your Approval, DeGeneres spoke about how she had been “kicked out of showbusiness” following an avalanche of negative headlines.
DeGeneres’ image took a hit in July 2020, when Buzzfeed News published an article in which numerous allegations were made about her show being a toxic work environment behind the scenes. She was also criticized by certain celebrities.
After her eponymous talk show came to an end in 2022, DeGeneres largely backed away from the spotlight before recording her standup special in Los Angeles.
During the special, which was billed as her last, DeGeneres told the audience: “I’m here because I love doing stand-up, and I miss doing stand-up, and I like making people happy, and I do care what people think.”
While DeGeneres has stated that her show ended independently of the unfavorable headlines she faced, she did speak of how much it hurt her—with a dose of the deadpan humor that made her famous decades ago.
“Here’s the problem: I’m a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show every day by saying, ‘Be kind to one another.’ Yeah, I know, it seemed like a good idea,” she said.
“Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f*** yourselves,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out I’m kind.”
“I got kicked out of show business. Yeah, because I’m mean,” she further stated. “You can’t be mean and be in show business. They’ll kick you out. No mean people in show business.
“Kicked me out before because I told them I was out. No gay people in show business. They kick you out. Can’t be gay and be in show business. Eventually they’re going to kick me out a third time for being old—mean, old and gay, the triple crown.”
