Ellen - Finally TALKS!

TWO YEARS AFTER LEAVING THE PUBLIC EYE, ELLEN DEGENERES OPENS UP ABOUT HER CAREER, MENTAL HEALTH AND FINDING HAPPINESS

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She wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room. "I got kicked out of show business because I'm mean," Ellen DeGeneres announced to the crowd at NYC's Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 1, adding that she was previously kicked out because she was gay. "Eventually, they're going to kick me out a third time for being old!" No subject was off-limits.

"The show felt very much like her redemption tour and a confessional," a witness tells In Touch of the comedian, who has admitted to being "devastated" by the "painful and sad" end of her long-running talk show in 2022, not long after former staff members blasted her for fostering a toxic workplace. "She seemed a little bruised from her fall from grace but not broken."

Over the past two years, adds a source, Ellen has leaned on her wife of 16 years, Portia de Rossi, and "took time to reflect on her life, the good and the bad. This standup tour is about finally coming clean and explaining the truth behind all the rumors, including some jaw-dropping secrets she hid from the world."

The onetime "queen of nice" was dethroned in 2020 when multiple employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show called out executive producers for racism, sexual misconduct and intimidation. Ellen, 66, fired three men and apologized, noting that while she wasn't aware of the toxic environment, "I take responsibility for what happens at my show." Others noted that Ellen wasn't completely innocent: Kathy Griffin claimed her fellow comedian had "a mean streak that all of Hollywood knows about," while a bodyguard blasted Ellen for being "cold" and "demeaning."

HOLDING HERSELF ACCOUNTABLE