Divorce battle Ellen and Portia’s toxic split!
Their bitter bust-up is set to get messy!
Twenty years after Ellen DeGeneres first came out via a magazine cover declaring, “Yep, I’m gay!”, the talk-show queen may be set to make another shocking announcement: “Yep, I’m single!”
As rumours swirl about a nasty split between the TV superstar and her wife of eight years, Aussie actress Portia de Rossi, the pair are selling off their assets – and Woman’sDay has learnt a divorce is imminent.
Ellen is said to have hired top celebrity divorce lawyer Sorrell Trope, who represented Nicole Kidman in her split from Tom Cruise and was employed by Britney Spears when she divorced Kevin Federline.
With the FindingDory star, 59, boasting a fortune of more than $450 million and Scandal actress Portia, 44, reported to be worth almost $30 million, the split is set to be one of the messiest and most expensive Hollywood has ever seen, due to the fact no prenuptial agreement was ever signed.
“It’s going to be a battle and Ellen has been warned that she may need to hand over 50% of everything she owns, given there’s no legal documentation to protect her money,” a source close to the couple reveals.
“Portia’s made it clear that she’s prepared to give Ellen a fight for what she’s owed. Ellen is trying to remain strong, but Portia is an emotional wreck. She’s moved into a nearby hotel suite and she’s barely sleeping or eating.”
The first sign that anything was wrong came in March, when Ellen put her and Portia’s sprawling Tuscan-style villa in Montecito, California, which they bought for $38 million, up for sale. “I really do hope we live here forever,” Ellen said in 2015.
It’s now on the market for $65 million – and more of the pair’s properties will follow. An insider says, “Not only will they not be growing old in what was once their dream home, but they won’t be growing old together, period. They’re splitting up their assets before they make an official announcement about the divorce.”
Tears&trials
Ellen and Portia looked miserable on a dinner date in Los Angeles on March 12, but things were even worse between them at a Beverly Hills party on April 6, held to mark two decades since Ellen’s groundbreaking Time magazine cover, with the pair squabbling over their meals and fighting furiously on the car trip home.
“When Portia ordered nothing but vegetable soup for dinner, Ellen went off on a lecture, telling her repeatedly that she needs to eat something more substantial,” reports an onlooker. “People started staring. Portia was mortified.”
The pair left in a hurry, with Ellen seemingly ignoring her wife’s pleas to settle their differences. The witness tells, “Portia kept trying to talk to Ellen, but she wouldn’t even look at her. They were both stony-faced.”
After years of suffering from anorexia and bulimia, former AllyMcBeal star Portia weighed less than 36kg when she sought treatment back in 2000. Afterwards, she proudly proclaimed she’d beaten the eating disorders, but when she checked into rehab in 2014, allegedly for drug and alcohol abuse, rumours emerged that her food issues had resurfaced.
Certainly, a source close to the couple claims, “Even though Portia is through the worst of her eating disorder, Ellen still watches every bite Portia takes. Her weight has always been a sticking point for them. It’s almost as if Ellen is more obsessed with food than Portia now.”
The couple have been in therapy since Portia’s return
to rehabh b ini 2014.2014 TheTh insideri id tells, “They’ve been trying hard to keep it together – they’ve had individual and couples counselling – but it seems time has run out. Ellen’s devastated, but she’ll do whatever it takes to end things as scandal-free as possible and that means keeping Portia happy. In this case, money talks – and Ellen has plenty of it.”
However, our close source insists it’s not all about finances and that Portia is seriously struggling with the impending divorce. “She’s wasting away and has told pals she doesn’t know how she’ll carry on without Ellen,” says the source. “She was the one who was desperately trying to save their marriage. It’s become clear she’s going to need a lot of support to get over this split, which is set to drag on for months, possibly years.”