'America Feels Scary': Ellen DeGeneres Blames Trump For Moving To UK

Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to the United Kingdom a day after Donald Trump was elected as President, US TV star has revealed. The former talk show host plans to settle permanently in the UK.

Speaking to BBC's Richard Bacon at an event in Cheltenham, Ellen confirmed Trump was the reason she left the US. The 67-year-old said the transition was made shortly after the 2024 presidential election results were announced in November.

America can still be "scary for people to be who they are," she added.

The Emmy-winning talk show host said the couple bought the house in the UK with the intention of staying just three to four months a year, calling it a "part-time house," according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

"We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis," she said, "And I was like, 'He got in. And we're like, 'We're staying here'."

Talking about the area where they live, she told the outlet, "It's absolutely beautiful,". We're just not used to seeing this kind of beauty, she said. "The villages and the towns and the architecture - everything you see is charming, and it's just a simpler way of life."

It's clean and everything here is just better - from the way animals are treated to how polite people are here, the former host of the Ellen Show said. "I just love it here," she said. 

She also spoke about the talk show, which ran for 19 seasons from 2003 to 2022, and addressed allegations that it was a toxic workplace. She admitted that she can be "very blunt" but dismissed several reports about her on-set behavior as "clickbait."

On January 25, Trump signed an executive order saying the US government would only recognise two sexes: male and female. He made major changes in the US policy, including, ban on transgender women from playing women's sports, a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the US military, and removing LGBTQ references from historic landmarks like Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

In addition to this, a national suicide prevention hotline dedicated to LGBTQ adolescents was shut down, and $800 million in funds for LGBTQ health research was cancelled.