Ellen DeGeneres hosted the daytime talk show for 19 seasons, but fans have been wondering what happened to her since the show went off the air in 2022 following a workplace scandal.
Whatever happened to Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show?
Launched in 2003, Ellen has become a daytime staple that attracts many A-listers, including regular guests like Jennifer Aniston and Pink, as well as members of the Kardashian family, many of whom are friends in real life.
The show made Ellen an incredibly wealthy woman; Celebrity Net Worth estimated her annual earnings at $75 million before the show ended. Ellen also served as an executive producer on the show.
During her time on the TV series, the Finding Nemo star became known as the “Queen of Kindness” thanks to her mantra of “be kind.”
In 2010, Ellen treated her viewers to an earnest monologue about the epidemic of teen bullying and the resulting suicides. In 2016, in a Facebook post next to the video, she wrote, “After that, I began asking everyone to be kind to each other at the end of my show every day. Five years later, I still haven’t stopped. It means just as much to me now to say this: Let’s be kind to each other.”
Ellen DeGeneres was accused of having a ‘toxic’ work environment
The Queen of Nice’s crown fell in 2020 when a BuzzFeed News report spoke to nearly a dozen current and former staffers who alleged that Ellen and several of her top executives had created a toxic work environment behind the scenes.
In an email to staff obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on July 30, 2020, Ellen finally accepted responsibility for the show bearing her name. She promised to “fix the issues” going forward, telling employees: “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to keep track of everything and have relied on others to do their jobs the way I wanted them to. Clearly, there were some who did not. That will change from now on, and I promise you I will make sure this never happens again.”
In August of that year, three longtime executives left the talk show, including executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman.
In September 2020, when season 18 began, Ellen apologized and addressed the situation directly to viewers.
“I have learned that something has happened here that should never have happened, and I take it very seriously and I am truly sorry to those who have been affected,” the comedian said in his opening monologue.
“We have made the necessary changes and today a new chapter begins,” she added.
Ellen DeGeneres ends her talk show
In May 2021, Ellen announced that the upcoming season 19 of her talk show will be her last.
A year later, on May 25, 2022, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of her final show, Ellen admitted: “I knew this season was going to be my last, so I really tried to take it all in. It’s funny, the last few months have been more emotional for me than the last week or two. I was really emotional two months ago, but the last week wasn’t as emotional because I just wanted to enjoy it. I’ve been working a lot with[former priest]Jay Shetty about staying in the moment, and I was. I was really focused on everything.”
“There was a period of time where I cried every day for a few months. Even though it was my choice and it was the right choice, it just got really emotional. I knew it was time to close this chapter and do something different, but it still got really emotional,” she added.
At the time, Ellen said she was planning to take some time off to travel and possibly return to her roots as a stand-up comedian.
Ellen DeGeneres to undertake final stand-up comedy tour
Nearly two years after her talk show ended after 19 seasons, Ellen will be returning to stand-up comedy with “Ellen’s Last Stand…Up,” which will also feature a 27-location summer tour. The tour will kick off in San Diego, California on June 19, 2024, and conclude with two shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 16 and 17, 2024. The shows are being billed as “special tapings,” and are believed to be for a Netflix special featuring her comedy show.
On July 3, at the tour’s final stop in Santa Rosa, California, Ellen said she was “done” after the tour ended, seemingly hinting at her retirement from showbiz.
“This is the last time you guys will see me. Once the Netflix special is over, I’m done,” she told SFGate.
When an audience member asked Ellen if she would reprise her role as Dory in Finding Nemo 2, she replied, “No, bye-bye, remember me.”
