Ellen DeGeneres has experienced some serious highs and lows in her decades-long showbiz career.
The awards on her shelf only give tell part of her story, though.
Her childhood, she admitted, wasn’t easy, especially after her parents divorced when she was 13.
“School just was not interesting to me,” she admitted.
Bitten by the comedy bug, DeGeneres continued to perform, honing her act and building a following.
The routine got huge laughs, and an invite to take a seat on host Johnny Carson’s couch.
In comedy circles, being invited to chat with Carson was nothing less than an anointment.
When she sat, Carson praised her act as “very clever and very fresh.”
For the 27-year-old, the whole thing seemed eerily preordained.
“So, when it happened, it was kind of all part of the plan.”
While the shows may have failed, Hollywood took notice of DeGeneres' undeniable talent.
With a new title and more focus on DeGeneres' character, Ellenbecame a top-20 hit.
As she gets to known him better, she discovers he’s actually a dangerous lunatic.
Reviews were decidedly mixed.
However, theSan Francisco Chroniclecalled it “dreadful.”
Moviegoers tended to agree with theChronicle’s assessment, and avoided the movie.
According toBox Office Mojo,Mr.
Wrongbrought in a mere $12.8 million at the box office not exactly a blockbuster number.
Luckily,Ellenwas still on the air, but ratings were softening.
Those three little words kicked off a media maelstrom.
“Everyone thinks I’m a freak,” she candidly admitted.
Still, the episode was a momentous moment in television history.
In 2017, DeGeneres reunited with Winfrey and Dern onThe Ellen DeGeneres Showto discuss the episode.
And while that episode was among the season’s most-watched shows, ratings stayed flat.
The following year ABC decided to cancel the show.
“I hurt straight people through this,” DeGeneres marvelled.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to work again,” DeGeneres toldOut.
“Time is a strange thing.
I was at rock bottom and out of money, with no work in sight.
But one step at a time, it gets better.”
As Heche recalled forYahoo!
And both she and I were fired that week."
In addition to heartbreak, DeGeneres also admitted to the publication that she felt “betrayed” by Heche.
“I don’t want to be a part of a soap opera anymore,” she declared.
“I was in something that I thought was real.”
First up: the release of Pixar’sFinding Nemoin May 2003.
This newfound acclaim, she admitted, was not something she took for granted.
DeGeneres proved to be a natural at the format.
Her easygoing nature and sharp wit and let’s not forget herendearingly goofy dancing quickly won over viewers.
Her sexuality was old news, no longer an issue with viewers.
Not only didThe Ellen DeGeneres Showbecome a hit,it became arguably the biggest show in daytime.
After that, the two were inseparable.
Within months, they had moved in together and officially came out as a couple.
Getting married “is not something we’ve ever taken for granted,” de Rossi toldPeople.
“That we get to do this, it means a lot.”
Added DeGeneres: “I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
She’s now officially off the market.
No one else gets her.
And now she’ll cook and clean for me.”
“This was such a special day for us,” she wrote in the caption.
In 2007, she was asked to host the Academy Awards and her performance was well reviewed.
DeGeneres returned to host the Oscars for a second time in 2014.
In fact, the traffic generated by DeGeneres' selfie quite literally broke Twitter.
In one routine, recalledVulture, DeGeneres jokes aboutlivingin a house so large that her friends get lost.
As the show’s success grew, so did DeGeneres' ambitions for her company.
It wasn’t long after that the company began announcing new shows at a dizzying pace.
