Ellen DeGeneres

## **Early Life**

Ellen DeGeneres was born on January 26th, 1958 in Metairie Louisiana. She is the daughter of Elliot Everette DeGeneres who was an insurance agent and mom, Elizabeth Jane who was a speech therapist. Ellen has one brother, Vance DeGeneres who is a musician and producer. When Ellen was a teenager her parents divorced. Years after her parents separation, her mother remarried and moved to Atlanta Texas , while her brother moved with his dad who stayed in Louisiana [2] [5].

Ellen ended up graduating from Atlanta High School in 1976 and moved back to New Orleans to attend college at the University of New Orleans. She majored in communications studies and later decided to not continue her education and worked at various other jobs like clerical, and J.C Penney [5].

## Stand Up- Comedy

When Ellen was 23 she started doing stand up comedy. In 1986 she started on the *Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.* During her visit during the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson asked her to sit and his famous "couch." The only female comedian to ever to do. Ellen also made appearances on the *The Late Show of David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey show, Later with Greg Kinnear and Larry King Live[2].*

In 2017, Ellen announced that she will have a stand up special on Netflix.[3]

## Coming Out

Ellen DeGeneres came out during *The Oprah Winfrey* show in 1997. At the same time, her character on her hit show *Ellen,* Ellen Morgan came out as gay in the episode called "*The Puppy Episode." in which 4.2 million people tuned in. Yet J.C Penney and Chrysler pulled out as her endorsement[1].* The show received a lot of criticism after the episode aired. As the show continued to air, views began to decrease and after it's fifth season, *Ellen* was cancelled in 1998.

## *The Ellen DeGeneres Show*

In 2003, launched her daytime talk show, *The Ellen DeGeneres Show.* The show has won up to 59 Daytime Emmy Awards since 2017 and six outstanding Talk Show Entertainment [5. Ellen show has one unique touch, her viewers forget their issues and trouble and just enjoy the conversations [4]. Ellen DeGeneres uses her show to talk highlight issues that are important to her as a lesbian entertainer.

## Advocacy- Human Rights

Ellen DeGeneres has used her platform to talk about the LGBTQ community and women's rights. It all began when her character Ellen Morgan, became the first character to acknowledge her sexual orientation on air. She decided to come out because she thought that kids needed a positive role model to look up to. Ellen has helped the LGBTQ community by assuring them that it okay to be who you are and love yourself. When it comes to LGBTQ youth, Ellen called for a rating change on the documentary *Bully.* A teacher from Michigan Katy Butler petitioned to have the film be PG-13 instead of Rated-R. Ellen stood behind her. Ellen stated on her show "There's some language in the movie. It's mature and but not gratuitous. It's in the movie because it's part of the real story of bullying and it's real language that bullies are using [3]." Eventually the rating board lowered down the rating of the documentary.

Ellen is also about women's right and equality. She believes that women should be paid the same as the man. She also criticized BIC for creating a gendered pen. The selling point of BIC was to designed to fit a women's hand. Although this is just a small thing, it gets people what actual products are made for women or what products are for both genders?

## Critics

*One Million Moms* is a conservative media watchdog. They let their decision-makers what messages or values they are sending out to children. Their goal is to stop exploitation of children in the entertainment media [4].

In 2012, Ellen DeGeneres became the spokesperson for JC Penney. They called for a boycott of the retail company and wanted Ellen fired because she was gay and did not believe in"traditional values"[3]. Their statement "By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market, and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years..The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there[3]. Ellen replied back with the values that she stands for "honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you wanted, and helping those in needs. Those are traditional values and that is what I stand for [3].

## Personal Life

Ellen DeGeneres married Australian actress Portia de Rossi in 2008 after the overturn ban on same-sex marriage in California [5]. They have been together since 2004. They live in California with their 4 dogs and 3 cats [7]. Ellen is also vegan and is a huge animal love.

## Awards

Ellen DeGeneres has won 30 Emmys, 20 People's Choice Awards, and numerous of others due to her charity efforts. In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom award from President Barack Obama[7].

## Sources

[1] Bendix, Trisha.2017. *Backlash:What Happened to Ellen DeGeneres AFTER She Came Out?*

http://www.newnownext.com/backlash-what-happened-to-ellen-degeneres-after-she-came-out/04/2017/

[2] DeGeneres, Ellen. 2017. *Ellen DeGeneres Biography*.

https://www.biography.com/people/ellen-degeneres-9542420

[3] Gilchrist, Tracy. 2017. *20 times Ellen DeGeneres was an outspoken activist.*

https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2017/4/24/20-times-ellen-degeneres-was-outspoken-activist

[4] One Million Moms. 2017.

[5 ] Otterson, Joe. 2017. *Ellen*
DeGeneres lands new Netflix stand up special*.*
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/ellen-degeneres-netflix-stand-up-special-1202442920/

[6] Tennant, Thomas. 2017. *The Story of Ellen DeGeneres rise to stardom.*

https://www.thoughtco.com/who-is-ellen-degeneres-a-brief-biography-3176792

[7] Wikipedia. 2018. Ellen DeGeneres.