What Portia Thinks Ellen Should Do Next

hi hi what do you want to talk about really uh well you obviously all right i mean let's let's talk about stuff okay so talk about stuff like what well let's see well i know you better than anyone i think you'd agree yes you do you know me better than anyone better than anyone and there are certain things that i think other people should know about like for example this woman never reads her own press ever she's just doesn't i i read it for her sometimes but she never reads it what else uh she has no idea how many awards she's won she doesn't even care to tell me when she's nominated for something ever and then when she comes home from work she never talks about the celebrity guest she always talks about that special person that was in this chair that really affected her and touched her because they did something amazing for for other people and that's what she talked about it's true it's true yeah it's true it is true yeah yeah and then think about it like that um well i i want to say because you know obviously it's weird to interview her because i know everything about her so to ask questions is silly but this this is really uh you um came into my life on the second season of this show we've been together for 17 years and a half so and a half yeah um so so with this show ending you know it's actually you know a big thing for both of us because we've both you've watched me go through everything with this show but i i learned today which i didn't know there's a story of watching me the first show oh yeah yeah yeah so you know i was an actress and i was closeted and uh ellen was kind of like the litmus test for for young actors in hollywood because we just you know her success meant so much to us it kind of meant can i be authentic and honest and still be able to pay the rent you know so um i remember watching the first episode of this show standing the entire time and i remember i was alone i remember saying out loud to the tv she did it and i i yeah yeah because i mean you could just feel the magic oh my gosh i'm emotional already that's terrible no but you could you can you can feel the magic in the show and i just knew that it was going to be around for as long as you wanted it to be yeah well i didn't i didn't know that that's how you watch the show i didn't know you didn't have furniture then but i um but i mean i think what's amazing too is is that um since we've been together i mean many things have changed i mean you you came out basically by just being with me that was your outing like yeah being with me uh how did you as an actress um but your your story about telling your grandmother that that you were with me is a beautiful story that i would love you to share with them yeah well my grandma meant everything to me we were actually born on the same day and she was so special to me and she was a huge fan of ellen she loved the the sitcom in australia in australia yeah uh loved her sitcom wouldn't miss an episode until the episode where she came out now i know i'm gay at this point and i love my gran and the minute that ellen came out she refused to watch the show in fact if a commercial for her show came on she would change the channel and say that disgusting woman so that didn't bode well for me and then i moved to la and i started my own career and uh and of course i got together with ellen and i came home to see my family in australia and i sat by grant's chair at her feet and she said to me are you seeing anyone special now at this point my mom was supposed to have told graham that i was with ellen so and she knew that we lived together and i said gran i'm with ellen and she said alan who's alan she's australian tell everybody how old she is at this point she's 99 at this point and uh and i said yeah i mean you you you knew that i lived with ellen and she said yes and all this time i was worried that that lesbian was hitting on my granddaughter right so then she literally puts her head in her hands for 20 seconds or 30 seconds silent and i thought that's it i've killed my grandma she's just gonna literally fall out i really thought that i did and she just looked at me and she goes well i love you just the same and it was a beautiful thing for someone at that age to have such strong feelings and then just say well if she just thought about it i love you just the same yeah um her mother uh maggie had been taking care of her but it got to the point where she couldn't take care of her anymore so we put her in the best home care that we could we could provide for her and she died at a hundred and one three hundred and three really she was 100 yeah she died at 103 with our wedding picture next to her bed so yeah yeah yeah pretty amazing yeah sorry well i didn't know you were that emotional i know it's just i can't believe it's nearly over yeah i know it's just crazy i know i know it's been such a huge part of our lives we're going to take a break we're going to let you cry and then we're going to come back we'll be back and portia we're back with my wonderful wife portia de rossi and uh everybody is asking what i'm going to do next and giving me advice on what to do next and i've never really point blank asked you what i think you should do now yes yes what do you think i should do next oh boy well honestly i just want you to do something that makes you really happy um but i i want to make sure that you continue being a teacher because that's really what you've been for everybody and you know i just i just feel like more than ever we need love and light and laughter and uh so i hope that you continue to do something like that like stand up for example or you know stand up or whatever i mean really but i don't really have an opinion but yeah stand up yeah would be good it's hilarious because when i so when i did my special relatable uh i did i did it after not doing stand-up for 15 years and she had never seen me do stand-up before she had seen my specials but she had never seen me live and she was petrified she's like why do you want to do this to yourself to me he just really was against me doing stand-up again and then ever since i've done it she now can't wait to go back on the road she wants me to cheer her she wants me to do vegas she wants he's good at it you're so good at it well i love doing i mean it's amazing i mean look she's she's good at everything pretty much i mean there are a few things you're not so good at like uh i don't know i know what you're doing doing my hair well no i'm not i know it no i know what it's not you should never and should never do your hair a blow dryer and a brush because i really thought i'd be walking around right you know with a brush tangled yeah i was trying to help oh yeah but wait a minute see i thought you were gonna say i should never be a dog groomer oh god you should you should never ever be a dog rumor that's for sure yeah i i uh we it was your idea we got some shears out and um i gotta hold look well he my idea was to get a professional yeah so it's fun to do it [Laughter] you know she's supposed to be a poodle yeah there's a better picture here's we should show a before picture because she was beautiful before yeah let's see let's see that's what she looked good and then that's what yeah yeah i um i wanna there's a question but i'm gonna wait because i want to talk about how proud i am for of you for a second because you stopped acting um to start a company and it was a big decision it was four years ago you you decided you didn't want to act anymore you came up with a brand new idea nobody had ever done it and four years later you've got a company called general public you you sell art at restoration hardware it you have a factory you have employees and i love that you have transitioned into a whole new career and are super smart and and uh i just i think that's the last level well thanks yeah you know i was actually on the set of scandal and i really loved doing the show and i loved acting but i just remember being in the trailer and i thought i know what this is like i know what another five years of this is gonna be like and i i just really wanted to challenge myself to do something brand new something that i didn't know anything about so you know i i love art uh but i kind of hate the art world because i think it's very exclusionary and and it kind of benefits you know the gallerists rather than the artists and then coupled with that i just figured that technology should help painters like technology has helped every other art form i mean i mean imagine if there was just one copy of the catcher in the rye that one person got to read but nobody else i mean that's how ridiculous i think that scarcity model for painting is so anyway i uh you know we worked on developing technology where you can scan a painting and reproduce it exactly with all the texture of the original and all the subtle nuance and uh yeah it's been really terrific and we get to support artists that don't have representation and they get an extra paycheck and their original back to sell so it's really incredible it's amazing um we have to take a break more with porsche after this for my 60th birthday four years ago porsha gave me the most amazing birthday gift ever on the show it was a huge surprise um and it's it's a campus in rwanda uh because diane fossey has been a hero of mine since i was a little girl she paid attention to that when we first met that that was what i would do anyway uh so it's finally four years later the timing is amazing because it's open now and now you get to enjoy your birthday present four years yes after four years four years and uh yeah a lot of money later um so so anyway let's just take a look at how we started so this was four years ago and it is now open in rwanda it's your 60th birthday and this gift had to be really special and it had to represent who you are and what you really care about so for your birthday ellen i am bringing you and your hero diane fosse together by building the ellen degeneres campus of the diane fosse gorilla fund he will carry on diane's legacy by giving them a permanent home in rwanda [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is where we are right now this is happening right now [Music] we're next to these incredible creatures and they were so gentle and tolerant and respectful of us [Music] so we recreate her cabin this is still the original desk i'm gonna do you proud [Laughter] [Music] so we're standing on where my campus is going to be built beautiful site let's start building i want to thank everyone who has been supporting the ellen fund every little bit helps what is this what'd you bring me it's for your gorillas it is i am giving you a little something a 5 000 check two thousand dollars twenty thousand two hundred fifty thousand dollar donation we'd like to give you four million dollars it's amazing and beyond my wildest imagination to have you all here there are only 1 000 mountain gorillas on earth and tonight we're here to make it possible to see the species rebound guess what we raised tonight over 5 million dollars over five million dollars [Music] i gave this gift to ellen because we both loved and wanted to protect gorillas after coming here however we fell in love with the country and its people so this campus isn't for me or for ellen it's for the people of rwanda it is my hope that the campus will serve as a catalyst to encourage us to dream bigger to know that we too can make an impact and that all of us can become trailblazers just like ellen and diane i have some very very exciting news today four years later i'm happy to announce the official opening of the ellen degeneres campus of the dianne fosse gorilla fund i hope that you get a chance to go to rwanda and go see that and go see the gorillas because it is a life-changing experience [Music] [Applause] so you know my whole life i dreamed of doing this and i did it [Music] so so now the timing is perfect because when the show is over we're going to go visit the campus we're going to rwanda and see the campus uh you know in our it's going to be amazing and i have to say that not only has the yellen fund helped protect the gorillas but we've raised a million dollars to protect seven other endangered species and we're going to continue to do that more with porsche after this [Music] you

Channel: TheEllenShow

Views: 1,824,885

Keywords: ellen, ellen degeneres, the ellen show, ellen season 19, ellen new season, ellen final season, ellen farewell season, ellen tickets, ellentube, watch ellen, ellen season premiere, ellen season 19 premiere, ellen show, portia de rossi, portia and ellen, portia ellen, portia de rossi ellen, portia de rossi interview

Id: ReG1n6cahpg

Length: 16min 27sec (987 seconds)

Published: Wed May 04 2022