Ellen DeGeneres' dramatic life change after being rejected by Hollywood: 'We're staying here'

Ellen DeGeneres was one of the biggest stars on US television, best known for hosting her long-running chat show, starring in her 1990s sitcom, and helming prestigious award ceremonies including the Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys. But after her talk show was cancelled following allegations of a toxic workplace, Ellen turned her back on California and relocated to the UK. 

In 2024, the 68-year-old television host and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, bought a house in the Cotswolds - the picturesque region of England spanning areas of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Beloved for its rolling hills, idyllic villages and stone cottages, the Cotswolds has become home to an array of A-listers, including Kate Moss, Hugh Grant, and David and Victoria Beckham.

Keep reading to find out all we know about Ellen's life in the UK after turning her back on fame. 

Why Ellen DeGeneres moved to the UK

In 2024, Ellen relocated to the Cotswolds. She later confirmed that she decided to move after Donald Trump was re-elected US president.

Speaking at the Everyman theatre near Cheltenham in 2025, Ellen told broadcaster Richard Bacon that she and Portia had initially planned to spend three or four months a year in the UK and purchased "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'."

What is Ellen DeGeneres doing now? 

Ellen stepped away from the limelight after her "final stand-up tour" in 2024. 

On the opening night of Ellen's Last Stand … Up Tour in Los Angeles, the host joked that she had been "kicked out of show business". 

Ellen recently admitted that she misses being on television. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, which airs on BBC One on Friday 16 October, Ellen shared: "I've nothing really going on and I really miss being on TV."

"I miss a lot about it – laughing with the writers and the audience. I think about doing stuff here," she continued, jokingly adding: "I think it is pretty easy to get on TV here – you have a pottery show, you have a sewing show, and you even have a show about people watching TV shows!"

Ellen and Portia's Cotswolds home

Ellen and Portia have well and truly settled into life in the UK. "It's absolutely beautiful," Ellen told Richard Bacon last year. "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," continued the actress, adding that Portia had flown her horses over from the US. 

"I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks," she said. 

In July last year, the couple announced they were selling their 43-acre property to relocate to a home nearby. 

"When we decided to live here full time, we knew that Portia couldn't live without her horses," Ellen told The Wall Street Journal. "We needed a home that had a horse facility and pastures for them."

The couple recently received the green light to build new stables for their horses at their Oxfordshire home. West Oxfordshire District Council granted them planning permission subject to a number of conditions.

Ellen's recent outing with Meghan Markle

In September, Ellen and her wife Portia were spotted enjoying a casual outing with the Duchess of Sussex at the Three Horseshoes pub in Burford, in photos obtained by PageSix.

Meghan was seen "chatting and laughing" with the celebrity couple, with whom she has been friends for years. The trio were previously neighbours in Montecito, and Meghan even adopted one of Ellen's chickens.