Months after her official move to the U.K., Ellen DeGeneres opens up about what inspired her to leave the U.S.
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According to the BBC, DeGeneres made her first public appearance over the weekend, telling a crowd in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, that life in the UK is “just better” for her and her wife, Portia de Rossi.
The longtime comedian then said she and de Rossi moved to the UK after Donald Trump was reelected U.S. president. She pointed out that she and her wife were planning to get married again in the UK after some moves in the U.S. to reverse gay marriage.
Speaking about the U.S., Ellen DeGeneres said that America can still be “scary for people to be who they are.”
When asked if President Trump was one of the key reasons for her and de Rossi’s move, DeGeneres confirmed, “Yes.”
Ellen DeGeneres’ U.K. Home Was Originally Considered a “Part-Time” Residence
Ellen DeGeneres also said that her UK home was originally a “part-time” residence, but things changed once Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis,” she explained. “And I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.'”
DeGeneres then shared her thoughts about the UK. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “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.”
“It’s clean. Everything here is just better,” she continued. “The way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.”
Speaking about the U.K. move, Ellen said, “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.”
DeGeneres then said de Rossi flew her horses to the UK as well. “I have chickens,” she declared. “And we had sheep for about two weeks.”
Regarding a potential British talk show, DeGeneres seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea. She pointed out that she missed her long-running talk show. However, she doesn’t believe the show’s format would work anymore.
“I mean, I wish it did,” she noted. “Because I would do the same thing here. I would love to do that again, but I just feel like people are watching on their phones, or people aren’t really paying attention as much to televisions, because we’re inundated with information and entertainment.”
DeGeneres then said she doesn’t have any future plans and would pick her next move “very carefully.”
“I just don’t know what that is yet,” she added.