END OF AN ERA
THE TALK SHOW HOST TAKES A WELL EARNED BREAK WITH WIFE PORTIA DE ROSSI AFTER SIGNING OFF FOR GOOD
Ellen DeGeneres wrapped her 19-year run as America’s daytime talk show queen last month, and to celebrate, she and wife Portia de Rossi jetted to Morocco’s Marrakesh, where they kicked off their vacation with a walk around the souk followed by lunch at Kabana Rooftop with friends.
And while these friends weren’t of the famous variety, DeGeneres had some mates, who also happen to be some of the world’s biggest stars on her final show, which aired on May 26. We’re talking Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish and Pink.
In an emotional farewell message, she told her studio audience, “If I’ve done anything in the past 19 years, I hope I’ve inspired you to be yourself. Your true, authentic self,” she said, after famously getting “cancelled” in the ’90s for coming out as gay during her sitcom career.
“If someone is brave enough to tell you who they are, be brave enough to support them, even if you don’t understand. They’re showing you who they are, and that is the biggest gift anybody can ever give you.”
She added: “Thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I feel the love and I send it back to you. Bye.”
Back in 2020, DeGeneres was embroiled in a “toxic” workplace scandal, which saw her ratings take a 37 percent dive in the US alone, forcing her to call time on the daytime talk show, which regularly featured guests like the Kardashians, Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lopez.
On her series finale, having Aniston on was a huge get, as she was DeGeneres’ first-ever guest back in 2003. Asked how things had changed since that appearance, which fell during her marriage to Brad Pitt and a year short of Friends ending, she joked, “Well, I got a divorce and went into therapy.”
So what’s next for the comedian? She told Aniston, “I want to just to lay low for a little while. I want to rest, and then I’ll do something again, but I don’t know what it is.”