Ellen DeGeneres has finally confirmed what many fans suspected: she and wife Portia de Rossi are officially Britain’s newest queer royals—swapping Hollywood’s glitz and America’s culture wars for sheep, scones, and the Cotswolds. And the reason? Donald Trump.
In a blunt revelation delivered during a chat at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, the former talk show queen said she and Portia landed in the UK just a day before Trump was elected president. “We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis,” she said. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
Ellen didn’t mince words about what drove her out of the States. From a toxic political climate to a steady rollback of LGBTQ rights, she made it clear that Trump’s win turned a dreamy English estate into a permanent escape. “Everything here is just better,” she quipped. “I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences. Until we’re there, it’s hard to say we’ve made huge progress.”
And yes, the tea is piping hot: Ellen is watching the Southern Baptist Convention’s attempt to claw back same-sex marriage rights with both eyes open. “They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it,” she warned. If that happens? “Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”
Let’s be real—when America starts rolling back your basic human rights, and the former host of daytime TV’s gayest hug-fest is ready to bounce, it’s a sign. Ellen’s move underscores a growing concern among LGBTQ Americans who feel like they’re living in a political minefield. When love itself becomes a legislative target, leaving starts to look a lot less dramatic and a lot more like self-preservation.
Ellen’s rural bliss, nestled in a honey-stoned dreamland shared by the likes of the Beckhams and Kate Moss, might seem like the good life—and she’s earning it. After two decades on air and a show that netted over 60 Emmys, she left daytime TV under a cloud of workplace controversy. But she’s not hiding. She’s gone au naturel, lawnmowing in peace, with sheep occasionally strolling into the house like it’s an Agatha Christie fever dream.
And she’s not the only one running for the hills. Post-Biden debate panic and general political disillusionment have sparked spikes in “how to move” Google searches. According to one poll, 17% of Americans said they wanted to leave the country within five years, with Canada at the top of the escape list. Trump himself once brushed off such moves with a classic line: “If you’re not happy, you can leave.” Well, Ellen took him up on that.
Still, Britain isn’t all tea and rainbows. Despite universal health care and zero mass shootings, it lags behind the U.S. in key quality-of-life measures. But for Ellen, the tradeoff is worth it. Less MAGA, more marmalade.
For the LGBTQ community, her departure is both a celebrity headline and a quiet alarm bell. When someone as visible—and resilient—as Ellen DeGeneres packs up for good, it says something powerful about the direction the country’s heading. Rights are fragile. Acceptance isn’t permanent. And sometimes, the safest place for queer love isn’t home. It’s wherever you don’t have to fight to be human.