IT’S BEEN 20 YEARS SINCE ACTOR CAME OUT
When DeGeneres put herself and her career on the line, her character on TV followed suit in ABC sitcom episode
LOS ANGELES— Ellen DeGeneres can measure her career and personal success by several impressive yardsticks, including a popular daytime talk show and eight-year marriage to Portia de Rossi. But two decades ago, as star of the ABC sitcom Ellen, she put herself and her career on the line when she came out as gay and her character followed suit in “The Puppy Episode” that aired April 30, 1997.
As she prepared to mark the culture-changing event on The Ellen DeGeneres
Show, she talked to The Associated Press about what she faced in creating the episode and what came after. This interview has been edited and condensed.
How difficult was it to decide to come out both personally and in character, and do it simultaneously?
I was doing just fine. The show was a success, my career was a success and there was no real reason for me to do it other than I did some work on myself, some deep soul-searching, and realized I was really carrying around a lot of shame . . . It became more important to me than my career.
I suddenly said, “Why am I being, you know, ashamed of who I am just to be successful and famous in society’s eyes?”
How were the studio and network to work with during the script development and production?
They really didn’t give us the OK (at first). We were trying to convince them to do it and there were closed-door meetings. And the scripts were written on red paper, so you couldn’t see the black ink. They were shredded at the end of every single day and locked in a safe. It was crazy. It was like we were spies or something.
Ellen cast member Joely Fisher recalled that you held back from saying the line “I’m gay” in pre-taping rehearsals. Why?
Because the first time we were blocking it and rehearsing it (the scene), I started to say it and I would tear up. And I realized how charged that sentence was because, you know, when you’re gay, the only time you say “I’m gay” is when you’re revealing it to someone, when you’re telling your parents or when you’re telling someone close to you. Because most people never have to say, “I’m straight.” . . . So, Laura (guest star Laura Dern) kept saying, “Just don’t say it,” because she saw how hard it was for me.