Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres have been dogged by rumors of a $ 220 million divorce for years. Even so, they celebrated their 9th anniversary last fall.
But they’re very aware that reportings of an alleged impending divorce are circulating. And Portia is speaking up about them.
Though she acknowledges that it might sound strange, she finds those rumors encouraging.
Portia de Rossi spoke to Us Weekly about how she really feels about the perennial divorce rumors that follow her and her wife, Ellen.
“The divorce rumors came,” Portia says. “And then we really knew the perceptions had changed.”
The perceptions regarding gay marriage, she means.
Portia makes it clear that she is not cracking a joke, saying: “I’m not kidding.”
She explains why seeing rumors about her marriage felt oddly affirming … but is the first to admit that it seems counterintuitive.
“I know it sounds ridiculous,” Portia admits.
Portia continues: “But when that started happening I thought, ‘Oh, now we’re finally accepted.’”
That actually does make sense.
Portia explains: “We get the same s–t as every celebrity couple.”
In other words, people weren’t writing about her and Ellen’s marriage as if it were some strange novelty, either fraudulent or untouchable.
Instead, they were just circulating bogus reports about their lives, just like they would do for straight couples.
“Wow,” Portia remarks about tabloid rumors. “This is great that I’m pregnant, not pregnant, divorced, not divorced, whatever.”
Because what it means is that attitudes have shifted. Eric Trump may think Ellen’s part of the non-existent “Deep State,” but not directly because she’s gay.
“That means,” Portia explains. “There is an acceptance for this.”
And that’s wonderful.
Portia says that she and Ellen don’t exactly laugh off rumors about their marriage.
“I was at a newsstand …” Portia says, describing how she and Ellen respond to rumors about other couples. “And there was a cover of Brad and Jen.”
Since Jennifer Aniston’s split with Justin Theroux, many nostalgic shippers have wished for her to reunite with Brad Pitt.
“I literally just stared at it, and I was like, ‘They haven’t seen each other. … How is this even a thing? I know for a fact.’ …” Portia says.
“I actually took a picture of it,” Portia reveals. “And sent it to Ellen and said, ‘Can you believe this?’”
But while her disbelief at that time prompted a reaction, she says that they don’t let rumors about themselves get under their skin.
“Anyway, no, in other words, we avoid it,” Portia says of divorce rumors. “We don’t care.”
That sounds like a very healthy attitude!
Portia also spoke to People about how she regrets discouraging Ellen from doing stand-up.
“I shouldn’t say this,” Portia begins. That’s always a great way to start an interview. “But the truth is, I was kind of discouraging her from going back to stand-up.”
That’s a stunning revelation.
“Not because she is not brilliant at it,” Portia clarifies. “But she has a job … right?! And it is a full-time job.”
Portia continues: “She is so busy, and I knew that having to write her own material for an hour stand-up special, and travel with it, was going to be exhausting.”
Sometimes loving someone means advising them to not test their limits. Especially when they’re 60 years old.
“So I was suggesting that she put it on hold until she was done with her talk show,” Portia explains. “But, my wife is very impatient, and, a little like me, once she has an idea she just can’t shake it, and she just has to see it through.”
That is probably why Ellen is so successful. Why they both are.
“I am happy to say that I was wrong,” Portia says.
Portia is not afraid to admit when she is mistaken.
“I was really wrong, because it has given her energy, it has invigorated her,” Portia says of Ellen.
Just imagining all of that makes some of us want to take a nap, but not Ellen.
“And I had actually never seen her on-stage and doing stand-up before,” Portia admits. “I’ve seen her specials, but never in the flesh, and she is really good.”
That is so sweet!