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Ellen Degeneres has spoken about the controversy that led to the end of her Hollywood career.
The talk show host and comedian, 66, was forced to end The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2022 after a Buzzfeed News investigation accused it of fostering a toxic work environment.
DeGeneres subsequently announced she would retire this August after playing the final dates on “Ellen’s Last Stand… Up” tour, which were filmed for her forthcoming Netflix special.
In the Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval trailer, the stand-up says: “All right, well let me catch you up on what’s been going on with me since you saw me last.
“I decided to take up gardening, I got chickens. Let me see what else I can tell you about that’s been going on…Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business.”
DeGeneres claimed being labelled “the ‘be kind’ girl [that] wasn’t kind” had led to the end of her career.
“Here’s the problem,” she said. “I’m a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show everyday by saying ‘Be kind to one another.’ Had I ended my show by saying ‘Go f*** yourselves,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised to find out I’m kind.”
Later, DeGeneres reveals why she went into show business, saying: “It was about healing my childhood wounds. I thought, if I can make people happy, then they’ll like me, and if they like me, I’ll feel good about myself.
“And all I can say about that is, thank god for the money,” she added.
The Ellen Show, which had hosted celebrities from Taylor Swift and Steve Carell to Britney Spears and Ryan Gosling, came to an end after two decades in 2022, amid allegations of racism, sexual misconduct, and intimidation behind the scenes.
DeGeneres apologised on air and, after an investigation by WarnerMedia, three producers were fired.
Elsewhere during her stand up show, DeGeneres confesses that she can be “demanding and impatient and tough.”
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She maintains, however, that she is not “mean,” stating: “I am a strong woman. I am many things, but I am not mean.”
DeGeneres has previously said she “hated” the fact that her show ended on such a terrible note, saying: “I loved that show so much.”
Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval will arrive on Netflix on September 24.
