The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which airs on NBC in the afternoons on Mondays through Thursdays, is one of the most popular daytime talk shows ever. Ellen DeGeneres, 60, who ends each show with the catch phrase "Be kind to one another," is a reminder of the fact that a little bit of kindness goes a long way. Many of her interviews go viral for their reveals, and her recent episode with Michelle Obama was the highest-rated episode in almost three years. And her dancing intro is now virtually iconic.
In spite of all this success, the talk-show host is seriously considering retiring.
"There's been times someone wants a picture, and while I'm doing a selfie, they're like: ‘You're not dancing,'" she told The New York Times in a new interview. "Of course I'm not dancing. I'm walking down the street."
The big buzz around the famous comedian right now is she's releasing her first stand-up special in 15 years. In "Relatable" (available Dec. 18 on Netflix), DeGeneres pokes fun at the idea that she's become out-of-touch as a result of her professional success (according to Forbes, she's earned $87.5 million this year alone, making her the 15th highest-paid celebrity in the world).
In the special, she makes jokes about the fact that her famous positivity comes with significant downsides. For example, she can't even honk her car horn without someone responding with incredulity.
"Being trapped in the world of being asked to dance and expected to be nice, it's real," Tig Nataro, a fellow comedian, told The New York Times. "I'm sure there's people who think she's kidding. Or can't have a bad day. But she does. It's an interesting pickle she's in."
"She's just a bit more complicated than she appears on the show," Ellen's wife, Portia de Rossi said. "There's more range of emotion."
Whether or not she's more "relatable" now than she was when she lost her sitcom in the late 1990s—after coming out as gay—is still a big question for the talk-show host.
"It was interesting to me that I was more relatable when I was closeted and dishonest than when I came out," she said.
Her contract is up in the summer of 2020, and whether she chooses to extend after that is a matter of considerate deliberation.
"[Portia] gets mad when my brother tells me I can't stop," she said, alluding to the fact that her brother, comedian Vance DeGeneres, says people need her positivity more than ever in these dark times.
"I just think she's such a brilliant actress and standup that it doesn't have to be this talk show for her creativity," de Rossi said. "There are other things she could tackle....I don't see the end of her show as her career ending,"
In response, Ellen said she would be interested in doing another movie, especially one in which she could play "someone unappealing" that breaks the mold of her intensely likable persona.
And for more on celebs who have been ultra-successful, check out our list of the 50 Top-Earning Celebrities of 2018.
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