‘Mean’ Ellen Degeneres and Her Two Very Big Houses in the Country

ELLEN Degeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi are my new(ish) neighbours – well, sort of: they live precisely 10 minutes up the road from me in a farmhouse they bought last year for a reported £37.2 million.

It’s the sort of posh gaff you’d expect to see on Grand Designs, though this one is actually finished, and the owners still have their money and their marriage.

I drive past the power couple’s house — which they’ve shared numerous sneak peeks of on Instagram — on the rare occasion I need to leave my own rural surroundings and head to B&Q in the much-less-salubrious, coffee-scented, Banbury.

Not that you can see their palatial property from the road: it’s set in a cool 100 acres of land and behind some pretty mean – though stylish – looking gates. Rustic charm at its best.

Ellen, 68, and 53-year-old Portia – an actress-turned-art-dealer, best known for her role in Ally McBeal – decided to permanently relocate to my area of the Cotswolds following the reelection of Donald Trump, and the demise of her eponymous daytime TV talk show, which had been running in the US for 19 seasons from 2003 until 2022. To say Ellen was a huge a deal stateside would be an understatement.

Portia with her horse… she had these flown over from America

The pair – married for 18 years and the poster girlies for lesbians everywhere – originally bought a house 20 minutes in the opposite direction of where they are now — close to Jeremy Clarkson’s pub The Farmer’s Dog and the ultra-stylish Burford garden centre — but quickly put it up for sale for £22 million and moved out after realising it was at risk of flooding and they needed more space for Portia’s beloved horses, which they had flown over at great expense from America.

However, after struggling to sell that house, they’ve since got planning permission to throw up some barns, taken it of the market, decided they can live with the risk of flooding, and instead sold their modernist estate to a billionaire’s offspring, according to the Daily Mail. Ellen and Portia will soon no longer me my almost-neighbours.

Ellen’s net worth – thanks to her 40+ years in showbiz, her famous side-hustle as a property developer and a recent Netflix special – is estimated to sit at a cool $400 million. Though, the way she apparently spends money it’s either considerably more… or becoming considerably less.

But her glittering career – which also included voicing the character Dory in the movies Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, as well as winning numerous prestigious awards for her show – came to an abrupt end following reports that she was at the helm of a toxic workplace behind the scenes of her telly empire.

Ellen having fun at the local pub, where she’s been a regular for a while now

However, no accusations — first published in 2020 by Buzz Feed — were directed specifically at Ellen, but at senior members of her staff.

DeGeneres even used her farewell stand-up tour and aforementioned Netflix comedy special, 2024’s Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, to address the scandal, where she claimed to have been “kicked out of show business” for “being mean”.

Stories also floated online about Ellen’s alleged meanness. Thousands of Tweets – as they were then called before Elon Musk bought, ruined, and rebranded the platform to X – flooded in after Buzz Feed’s original report.

So you can imagine my absolute delight when, one summer afternoon last year, I got my first of many sightings of THE Ellen Degeneres in the wild – at a small coffee shop on the fringes of the fashionable Soho Farmhouse.

There I was, little old me, sitting outside on the communal table, toiling away on my laptop — no doubt looking like the extremely busy and important person I am — as the V8 roar of Ellen’s £125k chauffeur-driven Range Rover instantly caught my attention as it emerged before me.

It’s the sort of flash motor you’d expect a member of the royal family to be ferried about in. Racing green and, surprisingly, no blacked-out windows. Although I doubt she still has it: I suspect she changes her cars as frequently as she does her houses.

Portia in the back of her Range Rover – being filmed by Ellen for their socials

Though impressive, these cars are 10-a-penny around these parts; so I didn’t expect any famous cargo until I saw Ellen walk towards me as she existed the rear passenger seat. The star dutifully opened the door herself. No diva behaviour here!

Given what’s been written about Degeneres over the past few years – and after my initial excitement at being in the presence of someone who’s still undeniably a huge A-list star, despite what the haters say – I was interested to see how she interacted with cafe staff and the other diners.

I’ve worked for years as a celebrity journalist. So when there’s a star in my midst, I simply can’t help but sit, watch and see what happens – like the sexier, showbiz, version of David Attenborough. They don’t even have to be that famous and I get excited. It could be some actor who was on Hollyoaks 20 years ago and I’d have a meltdown.

But when it came to Ellen, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard.

Even those you’d assume would have no interest in celebs were undeniably taken aback by Ellen’s arrival at this humble, rural, coffee shop that’s owned by a husband and wife team and managed by a lovely man called Jack.

A local man in his 60s excitedly ditched his elderly pal to go inside the cafe and greet Ellen, who at this point, was sitting comfortably at her table.

“I’m going in to say hello,” he said proudly.

As someone who could never bring myself to do what this man was about to go and do, I was cringing on his behalf. But, apparently, the interaction couldn’t have gone better!

“I’ve just met Ellen Degeneres,” the man declared as he came out of the establishment, which (to my dismay) is becoming more and more popular with the non-famous as stars continue to flock to the local area.

I blame myself for telling everyone exactly where the celebrities go during their downtime. And here I am, doing it again…

He added: “I told her we’re delighted to have her here, and she couldn’t have been more friendly. She seems to be a lovely woman.”

Ellen even mows her own lawn… This mower is the price of a small car, and you won’t see much change from £15k

Ellen also appears to genuinely like engaging with her new neighbours. Given her vast fortune, she could easily afford to hire a private chef and never leave the house. But no! There’s been endless pub lunches and cafe visits. I’ve even seen Portia, basket in hand, eying up the condiments aisle at our local Marks & Spencer Food Hall.

And a source told me: “Ellen and Portia are regulars at the cafe and pub next door in Great Tew – and the staff absolutely love them. She knows them all by name.

“She and Portia are always so polite, and the staff at both venues always get excited to see them turn up. It’s always a thrill for the young staff, who have lived in the countryside all of their lives, that she recognises who they are.

“The area has gone from being relatively sleepy to quite the celebrity hotspot. Not only do we have Ellen, but Simon Cowell is also a regular, as is Donna Air… and Beyonce and Jay-Z are apparently moving in soon, but that might have fallen through!”

The Crazy in Love hitmakers — worth a combined $2 billion — were at one point said to be in the final stages of buying some land on the outskirts of Wigginton, however insiders say that’s hit the skids.

But, back to Ellen.

Who let the sheep in? Ellen shared an interior shot of her house after buying some lambs

Another local told me: “When Ellen first arrived in the area, she did seem very nervous and reserved – almost expecting something to go wrong somewhere – not what you’d expect from someone so rich and famous. But she has gradually become more and more relaxed, which is nice to see. She’s becoming a regular face, really getting to know the locals.

“And as the area is becoming quite touristy, it’s always going to be a novelty for people seeing Ellen, and the other famous people that live in the area, turn up for a coffee or pub lunch.”

So, hearing nothing but good stories about my fellow Cotswolds-dweller Ellen, maybe she has chilled out and turned over a fresh leaf thanks to her quaint new life — or maybe she was never mean in the first place. And maybe, if she was a man – like Jimmy Fallon, who faced the same accusations as Ellen – she’d still have her job.

Regardless, it’s exciting to have her and Portia in the area. And I can’t wait to not say hello to Beyonce and Jay-Z if and when they move in.