20 Surprising Things That You Didn’t Know About Ellen DeGeneres!

Ellen is pretty much, one of the most successful female comedians of all time, not to mention being a woman of all trades, she has near enough managed to try her hand at everything during her long and successful career.

On her list of accomplishments is acting, chat show hosting, stand up…and let’s not forget that she gave the character of ‘Dory’ from Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo, the most adorable personality we’ve ever seen in a cartoon fish!

& Her success doesn’t stop there, she’s authored four books and is a regular host at awards ceremonies, from the Emmys to the Oscars, Ellen has also taken on plenty of presenting duties over the years!

But it wasn’t always this way and like any ‘normal’ person, she’s had to work hard from her humble beginnings as a Vacuum Cleaner Saleswoman (yes, it’s true! See point numero uno!) and gradually work her way up to where she is today! (Today being that is now worth over $450 million thanks to her daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show!)

If you’re interested in learning more about Ms DeGeneres success story, then keep reading! It’s pretty impressive!

1. She used to work as a vacuum cleaner saleswoman

Yes, she may be a huge, wealthy success today, but she had very humble beginnings and had many odd jobs before heading up to big time, other than Hoover’s biggest blagger, she also tried her hand at working as a paralegal, a waitress at TGI Friday’s, and an oyster shucker in New Orleans!

2. She was molested by her stepfather

Not only did Ellen have very humble beginnings, but she also had quite a tragic childhood… she has revealed that her stepfather (who has now passed away), said that he needed to “check” Ellen’s breasts to compare a lump he felt in her mother’s.

“He thinks he feels a lump in (my mother’s) other breast, but he doesn’t want to alarm her so he needs to feel mine to make sure.”

Ellen adding that he “made me lie down because he said he felt hers while she was lying down.”

The talk show host revealed in an interview with Allure that this abuse then escalated into ‘other things.’

3. She’s distantly related to Madonna and the Duchess of Cambridge

Yep, not only does she have links to real Royalty, but also to pop royalty! She once discovered that she is a distant relation of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge! She discovered this when she apparently received a letter stating that she is Kate’s 15th cousin through a distant ancestor!
& If that wasn’t enough wow factor of a family tree kind for you, she is also 11th cousin to pop Queen, Madonna! Apparently the pair share the same 10th great-grandfather, Martin Aucoin from France!
Awesomeness must run in the blood!

4. There’s a ride at Disney which takes you through Ellen’s subconscious

It sounds like something you’d have a crazy, fever dream about, but it seems that’s the way Disney’s wind blows sometimes!
The highly obscure ride, was located in Disney’s Epcot theme park in Florida and was aptly named ‘Ellen’s Energy Adventure!’
The ride appeared in Disney World from 1996 to 2017, and unsurprisingly it used to be very popular with Ellen’s super fans! I would actually love to seen what this was all about, it’s just sounds so weird and wonderful!

5. She was raised as a Christian Scientist

She and her brother Vance were raised in a family of Christian Scientists. Among many other scary rules and rituals, Christian Scientists believe that sickness is an illusion and that it can actually be fully cured by prayer. Ellen and her brother were associated with the new religious movement until she was 13 years old.
I can’t imagine what kind of childhood that meant for her! Imagine not being able to feel poorly without it being called out as an illusion!? She has since revealed that her upbringing was incredibly strict and she didn’t even take any kind of medicine or painkillers until late into her teen years!

6. She lost a couple of sponsorship deals when she came out as a lesbian

Ellen being Ellen, she didn’t exactly come out in a subtle way…her show Ellen was currently smashing the ratings in the late 90s, and it was then that she decided it was time to address her sexuality. She came out as a lesbian on her show in April 1997, before appearing on a special cover of TIME magazine, but not everybody was exactly happy with the news.
Among many other sponsorship losses, one of ABC’s affiliates in Alabama then refused to air the landmark episode, while several of the show’s sponsors, including car giants Chrysler, decided to withdraw their advertisements. She later struggled to cope with the fallout from her public revelation, which is incredibly sad, but at least times have changed!

7. She had a breakdown after splitting up with Anne Heche

In the same year that she decided to come out as gay, Ellen also publicly dated actress Anne Heche. They were together from 1997 until 2000, and their split shocked everybody! It also had a deeply negative impact on her, she has admitted that she was utterly heartbroken by the split, but thankfully, she did manage to find love again. She began dating Portia de Rossi in 2004, and the couple wed in August 2008. It’s great that she worked her way through her heartbreak and managed to find ‘the one.’

8. Michelle Obama beat her in a push-up contest

She once challenged Michelle Obama to a push-up contest…and lost! Which is no surprise really, why would you even challenge a lady who has such perfect, strong arms!? However, they both whipped off their jackets and went head-to-head, with the studio audience on hand to count all of the reps. Ellen was 54 years old at the time and managed 20 push-ups, whereas Michelle (who is 6 years younger) managed to finish 25! Wow, I just find this amazing because I’d be lucky to finish 2! No joke!

9. She’s now worth a whopping $450 million (approx)

Despite her tough start and humble beginnings, Ellen is now an extremely wealthy lady!
However, she certainly likes to give back to the world, as she is well-known for her vast humanitarian work and charitable organizations. She is a vegan and often uses her show to promote vegan causes. She is also a huge animal lover and is a huge believer in Transcendental Meditation for which she has raised money to bring mindful classes to people in high-stress jobs.
Sounds great to me!

10. She wasn’t the funniest member of her family growing up

Apparently, Ellen’s older brother Vance was the joker, whereas she preferred to spend her Louisiana childhood days riding her bike around New Orleans and exploring the sights and sounds of the city!

11. She unknowingly drove past her ex-girlfriend’s fatal car crash

Ellen has certainly had her fair share of tragedy in her life…but she certainly hasn’t let it stop her success!
In her 20s, she dated a poet named Kat Perkoff, who happened to own a lesbian bar in New Orleans. So naturally, her connection with Kat allowed her to test her stand-up material at the club.
Sadly, their relationship came to an end when Kat cheated on her, but if that wasn’t sad enough, just after the break-up, Kat suffered a fatal car accident…and Ellen drove past the scene of the crash, not knowing that it was her ex-girlfriend!

12. She was once sued by several record labels at once

She’s certainly not adverse to (willing or unwillingly) getting herself into trouble! Back in 2009, she was sued by multiple record labels who claimed that she has played more than 1,000 songs without permission. Apparently, she had failed to pay for the licensing and the labels weren’t happy about it one bit. She eventually managed to avoid a lot of trouble by dealing with the complaint outside of the court.

13. She clashed with the Writer’s Guild of America during the writer’s strike

DeGeneres showed her support for the strike but on November 9th, 2007, she revealed that she would be crossing the picket line. She announced that she would continue to work on her daytime show, she explained that if she didn’t do this, she would be letting down the 135 employees who relied on their paycheck to survive. Which sounds fair enough to me, but certainly didn’t please the writer’s guild, who were furious at her decision and said that she was no longer welcome in NYC! Yikes!

14. She’s only ever missed one taping of her chat show

Maybe it comes from her Christian Scientist background, but she certainly isn’t one for calling in a sick day! She has filmed over 2,721 episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and has only ever missed one taping out of the whole lot, for a time when she was struggling with a severe case of the flu and actress Ellie Kemper (of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) was drafted in to fill in hosting duties! That is amazing!

15. She posted the second most popular tweet of all time

This now infamous selfie had over 3.3 million retweets and 2 million favorites, and it was retweeted in over 151 different countries worldwide, which is absolutely crazy!

16. She’s the only woman in history to host the Oscars and the Emmys

She first hosted the Emmys after 9/11, and then in 2005 she hosted the awards ceremony again only three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, then, the following year, she was selected to present the 79th Academy Awards. She has also hosted the Emmys twice! I’d say that she’s certainly one for breaking records!

17. The role of Dory in Finding Nemo was written specifically for her

Which doesn’t surprise me, one bit! Ellen’s bright, quirky voice and brilliant acting skills are the perfect match for this sweet, little, forgetful blue tang! Dory has since had a movie sequel all to herself and is loved by millions of fans all over the world! Quite right, too!

18. She has her own record label

Not quite content with conquering the world of television and comedy…she is also after music industry domination!
She set up her company, which is called ‘eleveneleven’ back in 2010 and her first signing was teen YouTube sensation Greyson Chance, who is pictured with Ellen above. She has also signed Jessica Simpson to the label and in 2011 she added Charlie Puth to her collection of artists.

19. She’s a college dropout

Judging by her start in life, and the tragedy she has encountered, you certainly wouldn’t of thought that she’d be a favorite for a successful, happy life! Especially since she didn’t even finish college!
She initially studied at the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communication studies, however she decided that this path wasn’t for her (after just one semester!) and decided to go and work at a law firm where her cousin was also working. However, even though Ellen never graduated from college, she received an honorary doctoral degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 2009.

20. She has an incredible collection of watches

Just to end on a slightly obscure note, did you know that Ellen owns a vast collection of wrist watches!?
She has a number of seriously expensive watches and can often be seen wearing the timepieces on her show and in interviews…well, I guess you gotta have an interest in something!

& Whether Ms Ellen is your cup of tea or not, you can’t deny that she didn’t overcome a rough start, a lot of heartbreak, failure and tragedy to become where she is today. She is more proof of the fact that you should never give up on your dreams, no matter where you come from! Just start where you are and go from there!

Original content and all images sourced from and are credited to Eighties Kids

 

 

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