Ellen DeGeneres has confirmed that she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, permanently relocated to the United Kingdom following the reelection of President Donald Trump in 2024.
Speaking during a rare onstage interview with British host Richard Bacon in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on Sunday, DeGeneres said the couple originally intended to spend only a few months in the UK last year. However, their plans changed after Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the U.S. presidential election.
“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,’” DeGeneres recalled. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
The couple has since settled in the Cotswolds, where they live on a countryside property with their animals, including horses and chickens. DeGeneres expressed her affection for rural British life, noting its contrast to what she described as challenges in the U.S.
“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,” she added. “Everything here is just better, the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.”
The former talk show host also raised concerns about developments in U.S. legislation, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ rights. She revealed that she and de Rossi are considering getting married again in the UK amid fears that legal protections for same-sex marriage could be rolled back.
“The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage,” DeGeneres said. “They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”
“I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are,” she continued. “I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences.”
While she did not announce a formal return to the entertainment industry, DeGeneres hinted at future projects that may differ from her long-running daytime show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“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.”
DeGeneres and de Rossi sold their Montecito, California, home earlier this year and have shared occasional glimpses of their new life in England on social media. The comedian has also changed her appearance, recently dying her hair brunette.
She voiced support for fellow comedian Rosie O’Donnell after Trump threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s citizenship, despite lacking the authority to do so. Sharing a screenshot of O’Donnell’s response, DeGeneres wrote, “Good for you @rosie.”