On a Sunday afternoon in late July, Ellen DeGeneres walked onto the stage at the historic Cheltenham Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, England, to the tune of Harry Styles’ “You’re So Golden,” then sat in front of a crowd of nearly 700 people for a surprise Q&A session. During the event, the former talk show host — who’s remained mostly under the radar since ending her long-running chatfest in 2022 — discussed everything from her early days in showbiz to her 2020 fall from grace to what the future holds.
She also shed light on her recent decision to leave her beloved Montecito, California, neighborhood for greener pastures in the U.K. In November 2024, DeGeneres, 67, and her wife of 17 years, Portia de Rossi, 52, officially relocated to the Cotswolds — an idyllic region in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, stone cottages… and posh yet privacy-seeking A-listers like David and Victoria Beckham. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she told the audience of her adopted home. “Everything here is better.”
According to sources, DeGeneres has found her happy place. She spends her days contentedly tending to her chickens, ushering sheep out of her open-air living room and walking to the local pub for lunch. “It’s a different lifestyle for her,” an insider tells Us Weekly. “She’s very chill and in her element.” She and de Rossi reside in a stunning 10,000-square-foot home called Hiaven, which they bought for a reported $26 million. (Their original Cotswolds property, Kitesbridge Farm, is currently up for sale for $30 million.)
It’s a new chapter for DeGeneres — and also a chance for a career refresh. “I do like my chickens here, but I am a little bit bored,” she told English broadcaster and host Richard Bacon during her July 20 event, noting that she’s still figuring out her next moves. (Just days later, it was announced that DeGeneres had signed with WME talent agency.) “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” she said. “I’m going to pick it very carefully.”
DeGeneres and de Rossi had been contemplating a move across the pond for some time. “They had visited before and looked at homes but weren’t sure when they would do it,” says an insider. “When they found the right place, they jumped on it.” They initially planned to stay in England just a few months out of the year, but decided to make it their permanent residence after the 2024 election. DeGeneres said in the Q&A that she and de Rossi were in the Cotswolds when Donald Trump’s presidency was announced. “We were like, ‘We’re staying here. We’re not going back.’” (They opted to sell Kitesbridge and move to Hiaven because, according to DeGeneres, the newer home has a horse facility and de Rossi “couldn’t live without her horses.”)
She’s leaning into country living. “Ellen’s been farming and gardening and taking care of her animals,” says the insider. DeGeneres has shared photos and videos of her doing all of the above with her 135 million followers on Instagram, as well as footage of her and de Rossi rowing a boat and mowing the lawn on their sprawling 100-acre property, located in the cozy village of Great Tew. “Those close to her have never seen her happier.” DeGeneres raved about the U.K. to Bacon, saying she loves the “absolutely beautiful” scenery and architecture, adding, “I really like the people and [the] fish and chips are delicious. Everything you see is charming, and it’s just a simpler way of life.”
Privacy is a huge concern for DeGeneres and de Rossi, but they’ve been chatting up the locals. “[Ellen and Portia] have interesting things to say,” shares a source. “They were friendly to local people and wanted to live normal lives, but were nervous of any press attention.” Adds a Great Tew resident: “I’ve only met them very briefly, but from what I’ve heard, everyone who has spent time with them seems to suggest they are very nice, good company and genuinely committed to making England their home.”
Still, many locals seem to be unaware of DeGerenes’ celebrity status. A second source from the area tells Us several residents revealed that they had “never heard” of the comedian when asked about her. “But then again, horsey people — and there are a lot of them around here — don’t watch afternoon TV,” explains the source. Whether DeGeneres is recognized or not, the Great Tew resident believes she and de Rossi have gotten a warm reception from the community. “To my knowledge, there’s been nothing ‘frosty’ happening around here. I think this side of the Cotswolds is very welcoming and friendly.”
The pair are regulars at the exclusive members’ club Soho Farmhouse and have been spotted getting Sunday lunch at the Falkland Arms pub, a 16th-century inn in the center of town. “It’s a maze of cozy nooks and crannies, shadowy and often dimly lit with low ceilings and a hearty atmosphere,” a pub-goer says. “Ellen and Portia can easily slip in unnoticed.”
They’ve also been spending time with famous friends. They attended a star-studded party at British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s The Farmer’s Dog pub in November 2024 and grabbed dinner with fellow former talk show host James Corden at the Chiltern Firehouse in London to celebrate de Rossi’s birthday in February. (Corden purchased a property about an hour away from Great Tew in Oxfordshire.) “They have a good friend group,” says the insider, adding that DeGeneres has traveled to the States a few times since the move to see people.
It hasn’t all been picture-perfect. A third source says DeGeneres and de Rossi had a “rocky start” in the Cotswolds. The Kitesbridge Farm area was flooded just days after they moved in following a severe windstorm, and they had to find their footing while adjusting to farm life. “Things weren’t quite as luxurious as they’d been in Montecito,” says the source, noting that the duo was spotted collecting their own trash bins from the end of their 700-foot driveway one blustery fall day. DeGeneres admitted in her Q&A that the chilly gray weather took some getting used to. “The winter is tough,” she confessed, “but I still enjoyed it because we’re not used to seasons in California.”
Another ‘Hollywood’ problem? The third source says that two of the couple’s cars, a vintage Land Rover Defender and a Land Rover Discovery, are too big to get over a width- and weight-restricted bridge that leads directly into town. “[They’ve] gotten used to taking the long way around to the village — a three-mile trip,” shares the source, who notes that DeGeneres and de Rossi have also been seen walking to town on foot. “[It’s] probably quicker than the long-way-around drive.”
The third source also says the more modern Hiaven — with its floor-to-ceiling windows and infinity pool — has been a better fit for the couple. (Andrew Barnes, a senior director of U.K. Sotheby’s International Realty, told the Wall Street Journal the house looks like it belongs “in Malibu.”) “[Ellen and Portia] went from a traditional farmhouse to something much more Hollywood,” a source said in March. Some unexpectedly dark history about the property? The mansion was built near the site of a since-demolished farmhouse where a murder took place. In 2021, social worker Lynda Rickard was sentenced to jail for forging the will of her millionaire landlord, Anthony Sootheran, and then depriving him of food and medical help in order to inherit part of his estate.
Overall, relocating has brought DeGeneres and de Rossi closer. “There’s less work stress and more shared activities,” explains the insider. The pair were spotted holding hands during a romantic stroll on Bond Street in London on July 29. “It’s a calmer Ellen, so she’s easier to be around. And Portia is really enjoying it.” The Arrested Development alum retired from acting in 2018. “Portia quit acting a long time ago, so she wasn’t leaving her career,” the insider adds. “She was already scaling back.”
The cross-continent move has given DeGeneres some welcome distance from Hollywood. In 2020, after Buzzfeed published a report in which former employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show accused top brass of mistreatment and discrimination, a formal investigation was launched. (DeGeneres had been dragged a few months prior on X [formerly Twitter] when a comedy writer’s thread about her being “mean” went viral.) That September, she publicly apologized on her talk show, saying in part, “I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”
Millions of people tune in to The Ellen DeGeneres Show every day to watch Ellen DeGeneres deliver hilarious monologues about current events, interview celebrities from all walks of life and play games with her studio audience. But the stand-up comedian is no stranger to controversy. Two decades after launching her career, DeGeneres broke through in […]
Though the chatfest went on for two more years, the damage was done. The insider says DeGeneres felt “pushed out” of industry circles. “The investigation into her show was a major blow.” Adds a second insider: “Ellen feels very burned by how the world turned on her.” She addressed being canceled in her 2024 Netflix special, For Your Approval, in which she joked about being “kicked out of show business.” During her July 20 sit-down, she said the sting of the scandal remains. “I hate that people think that I am [mean]. Because I know who I am. I know that I am an empathetic and compassionate person. And so it hurts my feelings.”
She’s now weighing her options about what to do next professionally. “I am always happiest on stage,” she told Bacon. “It’s the best feeling.” (She also said she’d love to do another talk show based in the U.K., but isn’t sure the format works anymore.) For now, the first insider says DeGeneres is “embracing this reinvention. She’s left the Hollywood drama behind for a more peaceful life.”
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