Ellen DeGeneres blames Donald Trump for decision to quit USA as she makes stance clear on UK future
Ellen DeGeneres has confirmed she fled the US for the UK because Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The former presenter, 67, moved to the Cotswolds in 2023 with her wife, Portia De Rossi, 52, and confirmed they are “staying here” for good now.
In her first public appearance since moving to the UK, DeGeneres spoke candidly with a crowd in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, about her new life across the pond.
On Sunday at the Everyman theatre, she was in conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon, who asked whether the reports that they moved because of Trump were correct, she replied bluntly: “Yes.”
The comedian and actress had initially planned to spend three or four months of the year in the UK and to purchase a holiday home as a “part-time house”.
“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’,” she said. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here’.”
The former talk-show host voiced her love for the UK, adding: “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.”
“We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here – Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”
However, the pair are selling the £15million farmhouse they purchased when they moved to the UK, which they moved out of just a year after buying.
DeGeneres, who has been a pioneer for gay rights after she came out on her self-titled sitcom “Ellen” in 1997, also expressed her growing concern for the current political landscape over in the US.
“The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage,” she said. “They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it.”
“Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”
She added: ‘I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are, I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences.
“So until we’re there, I think there’s a hard place to say we have huge progress.”
Ellen married De Rossi in 2008, when gay marriage was legalised in California.
Back in 2020, DeGeneres was embroiled in controversy after allegations of a toxic work environment were put forward by ex-staffers.
The investigation led to the firing of three executive producers, and DeGeneres to issue an on-air apology.
Though she claimed she wasn’t aware of any inappropriate or bullying behavior from staff, she said: “I’m in a position of privilege and power and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”
After a 19-year run, “The Ellen Show” failed to recover from the scandal, concluding in 2022.
The comedian made her first on-screen appearance since it’s cancelation in a Netflix special titled “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval” in 2024, yet it failed to pull her fan base back in.
The show garnered a low 33 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and heaps of mixed reviews.