THE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER

Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show has been canned in the wake of scandals that revealed a culture of bullying and sexual abuse on set

- KIM ABRAHAMS

ELLEN DeGeneres is not as nice as you think.

This was the headline in a New York Times article on Ellen three years ago – long before any of the drama she became embroiled in last year began to surface.

The story suggested that the fun, friendly persona on her talk show was an act – not the woman she really was at heart, who was far more serious and complex than the jokey, everyone’s-best friend image she portrayed.

Back then, Ellen hinted she’d had enough of the talk show that made her fabulously rich and famous – it was time to focus on something else, do something different.

Even her wife, Portia de Rossi, encouraged her to move on but she was persuaded to stay by her brother Vance, a film producer and screenwriter who believed that “in the age of Donald Trump, the country needs her positive, unifying voice on television”.

Yet after a scandal, plummeting ratings and worldwide humiliation, Ellen recently announced she’d be taking offer famous talk-show takkies. After 18 years on-air, the show will end after its 19th season next year.

Ellen’s image, no matter how much she tries to defend it, has been seriously dented.

In her first public interview since the news of the show’s axing, the 63-year-old star said her decision to quit was because it had stopped being exciting.

“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And as great as this show is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.”

Ellen has called claims of a toxic work environment at her show “an outright lie”.