Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are planning to head back to the U.S. after a year in Britain, sources said, marking a shift from their earlier decision to leave the country following President Donald Trump's election.
Insiders cited by the Daily Mail on Sunday said the couple has indicated they expect to spend more time in California after settling last year in the Cotswolds, a rural region spanning parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
According to the report, friends were told they would return for the holiday period and remain for a longer stay.
One unnamed source told the publication that DeGeneres had once insisted she and de Rossi would remain abroad throughout Trump's presidency but has since reconsidered.
"Ellen was adamant that she and Portia were going to stay in the U.K. while Trump was in the White House, but evidently she's changed her mind somewhat," the source said.
"She's been telling friends they are coming home soon because they miss them and can't take the winters over there, and Portia wants to act again," the insider continued. "They will be here for the holidays and longer by the sound of it.
"Ellen was very clear that they're coming back to California sooner rather than later. They miss the warm weather and their friends."
DeGeneres and de Rossi relocated from the U.S. in 2024, not long after the conclusion of DeGeneres' final American stand-up tour, which followed the end of her long-running daytime talk show.
The couple bought a house in the Cotswolds with the intention of spending only part of the year in Britain, splitting their time between the U.K. and the United States.
Comments DeGeneres made earlier this year shed light on how their extended stay in Britain came about.
During a July appearance at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, she took part in an onstage conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon.
When asked whether reports linking their relocation to Trump were accurate, she responded, "Yes," according to the BBC.
She told the audience that the couple arrived in the U.K. one day before the 2024 U.S. election and awoke to messages from friends about the result.
"We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, 'He got in,'" DeGeneres said. "And we're like, 'We're staying here.'"
She also raised concerns about U.S. political moves she sees as targeting LGBTQ rights.
She said she feared moves to challenge or reverse same-sex marriage protections.
"The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage," she said. "They're trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it.
"Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we're going to get married here," said DeGeneres.
She added that acceptance in society is still inconsistent.
"I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences," she said.
"So until we're there, I think there's a hard place to say we have huge progress."
DeGeneres later noted that younger people are "more comfortable with it" and "just kind of fluid," adding, "so I think the younger generation is going to show us the way."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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