Ellen DeGeneres confirms real reason she fled US for simpler life in the UK: ‘Staying here'
The US comedian moved to the Cotswolds with her wife, Aussie actress Portia de Rossi, last November – and it appears they plan on 'staying here' for good because life 'is just better' in the UK, as per the BBC.
During a conversation with British broadcaster Richard Bacon at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, DeGeneres confirmed widespread reports she moved to the UK due to Donald Trump's re-election as US president.
'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 recalled. 'And we're like, 'We're staying here.''
The 67-year-old former talk show host revealed that she and de Rossi had initially planned to spend only three or four months a year in the UK, where they had bought 'a part-time house' in the Cotswolds which spans parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
But the couple – who have shared glimpses of their new rural life on social media – have fallen in love with their new lives overseas, from the township to their farm animals.
'It's absolutely beautiful,' said DeGeneres, who used to reside in Montecito, California. '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.'
During her public appearance, the star also spoke about the idea of having a talk show in the UK, three years after her The Ellen DeGeneres Show was cancelled in the wake of allegations of a toxic workplace.
The comedian admitted that although she misses 'a lot' about her show, she doesn't think a similar program will work in today's society.
'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 information and entertainment.'
DeGeneres says she doesn't know what the future of her career looks like, but she will 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.'
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