Ellen DeGeneres made her first public appearance since relocating to the United Kingdom, and she confirmed that her move came right after Donald Trump was re-elected as US President.
During a conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham on Sunday, DeGeneres was asked if Trump’s return to office influenced her decision to leave America. She gave a simple and direct answer:
“Yes.”
This was reported by the BBC.
Ellen Says She’s “Staying” in the UK
In 2024, after her long-running talk show was cancelled, Ellen launched her “final stand-up” tour across the US. Not long after, she and her wife Portia de Rossi bought a house in the Cotswolds, a scenic region covering parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
Ellen shared that they originally planned to stay in the UK for three to four months at what she described as their “part-time house.” But everything changed on the morning after the US election.
“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in’. And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here’,” she said.
Considering Renewing Wedding Vows in England
DeGeneres also revealed that she and Portia have thought about renewing their wedding vows or getting married again in England. She said this was partly due to growing fears about the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights in the US.
She expressed concern that America no longer feels safe for many people: “It can still be scary for people to be who they are,” she explained, as reported by the BBC.
Embracing a Simpler Life in the UK
Since moving, Ellen has embraced the quiet countryside life and often shares updates from her rural home on social media. She posted videos of her farm animals, although she said she had to sell them because they kept escaping.
Speaking about her new surroundings, she said, “It’s absolutely beautiful. We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.”
She added,
“It’s clean. Everything here is just better the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.”
Experiencing Snow for the First Time
DeGeneres said they moved in November, which wasn’t ideal timing, but it came with a surprise: “I saw snow for the first time in my life,” she shared. She also said, “We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”
Responds to Past Allegations
Ellen also addressed the allegations of a toxic work environment during her talk show era. While she admitted she can be “very blunt,” she rejected the reports, saying they were just “clickbait.”
