Ellen DeGeneres says life in the U.K. beats Trump’s America after fleeing on election night

Ellen DeGeneres has revealed she permanently relocated to the United Kingdom with her wife, Portia de Rossi, after Donald Trump won a second term as U.S. President in November 2024.

Speaking on-stage with British host Richard Bacon, the former talk show star described how the couple had arrived in the U.K. just a day before the election results were announced. As soon as she woke up to messages filled with crying emojis from friends back in the States, she knew the outcome — Trump had won again. And just like that, she made her decision: “We’re staying here.”

DeGeneres spoke candidly about her move, calling her new life in the U.K. “just better” in almost every way. From the scenic charm of British villages to the quiet dignity of everyday life, the comedian gushed about her adopted home.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture — everything you see is charming, and it’s just a simpler way of life.”

She went further, contrasting British life with what she left behind. “It’s clean. Everything here is just better — the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.”

The move wasn’t just aesthetic or personal — it was political. DeGeneres expressed deep concerns over the trajectory of civil rights in the United States, especially for same-sex couples. Alarmed by ongoing efforts from U.S. religious groups to reverse marriage equality, she said she and de Rossi are already considering getting married again — this time in the U.K.

“The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage,” DeGeneres explained. “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.”

This wasn’t just a relocation — it was a defiant stand.

The interview also addressed the darker chapter of DeGeneres’s career: allegations of a toxic workplace culture during the final years of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Once celebrated as one of America’s most affable TV personalities, DeGeneres faced a wave of criticism from former staff members and media outlets portraying her as “mean.”

In a rare moment of vulnerability, she addressed the accusations head-on.

“It’s as simple as, I’m a direct person, and I’m very blunt, and I guess sometimes that means that… I’m mean?” she said. “I don’t think I can say anything that’s ever going to get rid of that [reputation] or dispel it, which is hurtful to me.”

She added: “I hate it. I hate that people think that I’m that because I know who I am and I know that I’m an empathetic, compassionate person.”

But despite that painful legacy, DeGeneres seems to have found a new chapter abroad — one defined by tranquillity, love, and defiance in the face of political chaos back home. Whether she remarries or reinvents, one thing is clear: she’s not going back.