
Ellen DeGeneres: I moved to the UK because of Donald Trump
'We're staying here'
Ellen was one of the biggest names on US TV for 30 years, thanks to her daytime chat show, as well as her self-titled 1990s sitcom, for hosting the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys, and for voicing Dory in Finding Nemo.After her talk show was cancelled and a "final stand-up tour", she bought a house in the Cotswolds, a historic and picturesque area mainly spanning parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.On Sunday at the Everyman theatre in nearby Cheltenham, she was in conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon, who asked whether reports that she moved because of Donald Trump were correct. "Yes," she replied.The 67-year-old said she and De Rossi had initially planned to spend three or four months a year in the UK and bought what they thought would be "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'."
Ellen has been giving glimpses of her new rural life on social media, in videos showing her farm animals including sheep - although they have now been sold after they kept escaping."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 - the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here."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."
Being gay in Hollywood 'is still a problem'
On her last tour, she joked that she had been "kicked out of show business twice" - the first being when she came out as gay in 1997.That effectively led to the end of her sitcom after advertisers pulled out and the network stopped promoting it, she told the Cheltenham crowd on Sunday.Bacon asked whether her visibility had encouraged other people to come out. "I would say no," she replied. "I imagined a lot of people coming out like meerkats poking out of a hole and going back in again. 'How's she doing? OK, no, no.'"But it is "a really hard decision" that doesn't suit everyone, she continued, and that things are better today "in some ways"."If it was [better], all these other people that are actors and actresses that I know they're gay, they'd be out, but they're not, because it's still a problem. People are still scared."
Ellen also referenced a recent move by the Southern Baptist Convention to endorse the reversal of a Supreme Court case allowing same-sex marriage. At least nine state legislatures have introduced bills to do the same."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. And Portia and I are already looking into it. And if they do that, we're going to get married here."Later, in response to an audience question, 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."However, the younger generation are "more comfortable with it" and are "just kind of fluid", she added. "So I think the younger generation is going to show us the way."
'Does being blunt mean I'm mean?'
After some former workers on her talk show made allegations of a toxic workplace culture, the star - who ended every episode by telling viewers to "be kind to one another" - was dubbed as "mean" in the media.Following the scandal three producers were sacked amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, and the final season of the show opened with DeGeneres giving an on-air apology.She addressed that in her 2024 tour and the accompanying Netflix stand-up special."No matter what, any article that came up, it was like, 'She's mean', and it's like, how do I deal with this without sounding like a victim or 'poor me' or complaining? But I wanted to address it."It's as simple as, I'm a direct person, and I'm very blunt, and I guess sometimes that means that... I'm mean?"
She also said it was "kind of crazy" that saying someone is mean "can be the worst thing that you say about a woman"."How dare us have any kind of mood, or you can't be anything other than nice and sweet and kind and submissive and complacent?"She added: "I don't think I can say anything that's ever going to get rid of that [reputation] or dispel it, which is hurtful to me. I hate it. I hate that people think that I'm that because I know who I am and I know that I'm an empathetic, compassionate person."It was "certainly an unpleasant way to end" her talk show, she said.
Would 'love' a British talk show
Ellen said she misses "a lot" about her show, but doesn't think a similar format would work any more. "I mean, I wish it did, 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 so inundated with with information and entertainment."She said she didn't know what she would do in the future, but would pick her next move "very carefully"."I just don't know what that is yet," she said. "I want to have fun, I want to do something. I do like my chickens but I'm a little bit bored."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Tory membership falls under Badenoch
Membership of the Conservative Party has plummeted under Kemi Badenoch, figures reveal. The Tories have 8,000 fewer members than they did when Mrs Badenoch won the party leadership in November. The figures are likely to prompt concern among MPs that the party is failing to recover from the wipeout at the general election last year. At the time of the leadership election last year, the Tories had 131,000 members but this has since fallen to 123,000. The statistics, first reported by The Spectator and not denied by the party, are a further blow to Mrs Badenoch and come amid mounting questions about her future as party leader. The Tories have consistently lagged behind Reform UK in the polls since the beginning of the year. The party currently sits at just 17 per cent in opinion polls, behind Reform on 28 per cent and Labour on 22 per cent. A war of words between Mrs Badenoch and Mr Farage erupted last December when they accused each other of faking their parties' membership numbers. Mr Farage said that his party had more members than the Conservatives for the first time on Boxing Day last year. The Tory leader alleged that Reform's online membership tracker was 'not real' and claimed that analysis of their website showed that it automatically increased, regardless of the real number of members. Reform then invited several media outlets, including The Telegraph, to examine the system. The demonstration provided strong evidence that the ticker was based on verified membership data logged in real time through a third-party website. Mr Farage responded: 'We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership. However, this [is] not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud.' The Conservatives have also been hit by a series of defections of former MPs to Reform, most recently Sir Jake Berry, the former chairman of the party. The Tories suffered a bruising round of local elections in May, losing over 650 seats and control of all its councils amid a Reform surge. Their leader is likely to face another challenging set of May elections next year, when voters go to the polls to elect members of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. Mrs Badenoch won the race to become Rishi Sunak's successor on the back of her 'Renewal 2030' campaign last November. She focused on returning the party to 'first principles' such as personal responsibility, freedom and family, rather than making concrete policy proposals. The approach has attracted criticism from some Tories, with over half of members saying they believed she was moving too slowly on policy development, according to a poll in April. Mrs Badenoch dismissed the claims, telling BBC Radio 4 that she was elected on such a strategy and adding: 'I'm not changing my mind or getting blown off course.' Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick, who came second to Mrs Badenoch in the race for the leadership and serves as her shadow justice secretary, continues to be the subject of speculation about a future tilt. But Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said in June that Mrs Badenoch will 'get better' as Tory leader like Margaret Thatcher did. Mrs Badenoch this week brought Sir James Cleverly, her former rival for the leadership, back onto her front bench in a move to boost party unity. As shadow housing secretary, Sir James will take on Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, making him one of the most senior frontbenchers. Last week, the former home secretary said that the Tories had to 'get out of this habit of cycling through leaders in the hope that ditching this one and picking a new one will make life easy for us'.


Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
How Housing First for the homeless could end rough-sleeping
At the Fabian Society's housing conference last week, the homelessness and prison reform campaigner Matthew Torbitt shared his experience with rough sleeping, which began at 15 when his parents kicked him out. His year on the streets ended when a friend's parents took him in and he has been campaigning to reduce rough sleeping for the past 12 years. On a recent visit to a Housing First centre, a shelter with no strings attached, Torbitt discussed its warm, welcoming atmosphere with a resident. 'It's like a family,' the man said. Both men understood the importance of getting a home without preconditions — a right denied to thousands who are sleeping rough. • Read more expert advice on property, interiors and home improvement Since the pandemic, rough-sleeping rates have doubled, and continue to rise. In February Florence Eshalomi, the chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government committee, called the trend a national shame. Yet despite lamenting the 'all-too-common sight' of rough sleeping in its election manifesto, the government has done little, and its promised homelessness strategy is missing in action. The most puzzling aspect of the government's inaction is the notion that we don't know how to solve this. We do. Housing First is a tried-and-tested policy that flips traditional homelessness strategies on their head. Rather than require people to prove they are sober or employed before they are given shelter, Housing First finds them a tenancy with no strings attached. This is no charity. Recipients pay rent through wages or benefits, while support staff with manageable caseloads tailor assistance to individual requests. Their home is permanent, and recipients aren't shuffled through temporary housing bureaucracies. The results are stupendous. In pilot programmes in England the proportion of recipients without long-term accommodation fell from 86 per cent to 8 per cent, and those sleeping rough fell to zero. There were mental and physical health improvements, and contact with the criminal justice system fell — both as victims and offenders. I covered these benefits in detail last year. The success isn't limited to England. Scotland's Housing First programme maintained 80 per cent of tenancies after two years and had similar positive side effects. Finland, an early pioneer in providing shelter with no preconditions, has reduced long-term homelessness by 72 per cent. Similar successes have been recorded in the US, Canada, Norway and Denmark. • My council left me and my child homeless But for the cash-strapped Treasury, the most persuasive argument could be financial. Councils spent £2.3 billion on temporary accommodation last year, double the amount in 2020, with costs expected to double again by 2027. Add in £3.1 billion in homelessness-related costs, including healthcare and crime, and Britain's most visible injustice also becomes a financial quagmire. Analysis from the Social Market Foundation uses real-world data from England's pilot schemes. We estimate that housing 9,300 people — the peak last autumn — through Housing First would cost £72 million. That is probably an overestimate, since not everyone needs such support, but the costs are outweighed by the returns. An estimated £147 million in savings would be generated through improved wellbeing and reduced pressure on services. Housing First would cost no more than £43 million a year and would yield at least £66 million in savings; that means the government wasting less taxpayer money on inefficient services, while providing a home for those at the sharpest end of the housing crisis. However, dedicated funding is scarce. The money earmarked for Housing First is bundled up in a broader pot covering support for accommodation, prison leavers, immigration and training. This dilutes the resources needed to hire staff or secure tenancies — the foundation of a Housing First strategy. Both Matthew Torbitt and the man he spoke to found safety and dignity in a simple premise: housing without preconditions. The question is why others aren't being offered the same. Gideon Salutin is a senior researcher at the Social Market Foundation think tank


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘It's like clapping for the NHS': Lionesses' decision to stop taking the knee triggers debate
It has been the most visible symbol of antiracism in sport since athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in the 1968 Olympics. Taking the knee was adopted by UK football teams in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, having been popularised by Colin Kaepernick and his teammate Eric Reid during a 2016 American football game. But amid debate about its effectiveness in 2025, critics of the gesture may have got their wish. After defender Jess Carter revealed racist social media abuse, England's lionesses said they would not take the knee before the Italy fixture, saying football needed 'to find another way to tackle racism', as colleagues and matchgoing fans rallied around her. Meanwhile it's understood the Premier League is planning to talk to club captains about whether to continue with it next season. Piara Powar, executive director of multinational anti-discrimination organisation Fare, has insisted taking the knee remains a 'powerful antiracist act'. But in a Times radio interview this week, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the time for taking the knee 'has probably passed'. In Lambeth, south London, a historic centre of Black British life, community organiser Ros Griffiths argues the symbol has been stripped of value, because of the persistence of racial inequality and the lack of 'an inclusive national conversation' on British identity in a diverse country. Griffiths said Black sportspeople in the UK find themselves 'part of the in-group when they were winning, and part of the out-group when they're not'. She said: '(Taking the knee is) a bit like clapping for the NHS, it's just symbolic. For me, it's not about taking a knee and putting your fist up in the air. It's about being committed to dismantling systemic racism. 'In my opinion, things have got worse since George Floyd. Look at the race riots last year. And then I think of Diane Abbott being suspended for nothing else other than having an opinion based on her own lived experience of racism. Is that what we're doing in 2025, really? 'This country has benefited from diversity but still doesn't embrace it. What does it mean to be a British citizen? We've not had that conversation, and it has to start with the education system, so people understand the values and the benefits and it's not about the in-group pushing out the out-group, or the out-group trying to push out the in-group. We don't want any more gestures – we're tired of that.' The football anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out's last incident report found in the 23/24 season, racism remained the most reported form of discrimination, with an 'alarming 47% rise in racist abuse across all levels of the game', and the number of social media racism reports almost tripling. Taking the knee has been questioned by Black sporting figures. In September 2020 coach and pundit Les Ferdinand said 'taking the knee had been powerful … (but) the message has been lost. Months later, then-Crystal Palace forward said he was 'proud to be black, no matter what' but found the gesture 'degrading'. He added: 'Unless action is going to happen I don't want to hear about it.' On the right, Nigel Farage reportedly reacted to the Lioness's decision with predictable glee this week, having previously claimed the knee 'could not be separated from the Marxist BLM political movement'. In 2021 Tory Dominic Raab said it was 'a symbol of subjugation and subordination', before saying BLM protesters had his 'full respect'. While the frequency of Premier League teams taking the knee has reduced with time, it was typically met with more applause than boos at fixtures, as a gesture of respect, solidarity, antiracism and progress within a sport that had been marred by ugly racism towards players and fans in the 1970s and 80s, with supporters including former England manager Gareth Southgate and the Professional Footballers' Association. The FA says it's working with police and social media companies, adding in a statement: 'We are very concerned about the rise in online abuse and discrimination.' The prime minister, Keir Starmer, whose government is developing a social cohesion project, said he stood with players who had suffered racism. The Labour party has said it cannot comment on Diane Abbott's suspension.