ELLEN DeGENERES: Out and about with Oscar
To anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of stereotypes, Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out in 1997 can’t have been much of a surprise. Her sitcom, Ellen, featured a character called Ellen Morgan who wore flannel shirts, chinos and had scruffy hair. Most tellingly, alongside her infinitely more femme best mate Paige, she had absolutely zero interest in men.
But despite this screaming obviousness, the character’s “coming out” episode was huge news when it was shown on April 30, 1997. American primetime TV had no major gay or lesbian characters, still less stars, who were openly gay. Ellen’s character told her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey, the big news, then declared it — in her pratfall-prone way — to the world via an airport PA system. Gays and lesbians held Ellen “coming out” parties, the tele-evangelist Jerry Falwell called her “Ellen DeGenerate”. DeGeneres responded: “Wow, I haven’t heard that since third grade.”
DeGeneres’s career not only survived the homophobic barbs, it has thrived: she has just been named as the host for next year’s Oscars ceremony. Laura Ziskin, the event’s producer, says DeGeneres “was born to host the Academy Awards”. The most challenging hosting job in show business requires, Ziskin says, “someone who can keep the show alive and fresh and moving, as well as someone who is a flat-out great entertainer”.
DeGeneres, 48, was born and raised in Louisiana, though with her mother and brother moved to Texas after her parents’ divorce. Her friends got her to perform her nerdy, nervy stand-up at parties, after which she started performing in comedy clubs and on television.
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Her career appeared to stall after her sitcom’s cancellation in 1998 (critics claimed it had become “too gay” after her coming out, but that maybe says more about their conservatism). In 2003 DeGeneres became a daytime talk show host, for which she has won a number of awards. Her Oscars gig comes off the back of her hosting the Primetime Emmys.
America’s most famous lesbian has led a very public love life. She and Anne Heche turned up arm in arm at the White House (Heche has since married a male cameraman). DeGeneres is now settled with Portia de Rossi, “ice queen” Nelle in Ally McBeal, who credits DeGeneres with helping her to overcome anorexia. The success of her talk show is DeGeneres’s most telling achievement: its core audience of Middle-American soccer moms have taken this openly lesbian presenter to their hearts. Will she break the habit of a lifetime and wear a frock for the Oscars? Don’t do it, Ellen.