It’s a wrap, says Ellen DeGeneres
The talk show host will call it quits after the upcoming 19th season.
On May 12, host Ellen DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter her syndicated talk show Ellen will end after its 19th season. In a statement to THR, DeGeneres said, “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.”
The Emmy-winning star revealed she “was going to stop after season 16,” which is to say, before she became embroiled in the 2020 open allegations of workplace toxicity. “That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe for one. They were saying there was no way to sign for one. ‘We can’t do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment.’ So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That’s been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, ‘You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19.”
DeGeneres has denied rumors that her workplace was unkind to staff but nevertheless did apologize as allegations continued to emerge on social media and an investigation and resignations followed.
It’s not the first time DeGeneres has thought about signing off permanently. In 2018 she revealed in an interview with The New York Times that her wife, Portia, would support that decision, as a talk show did not fulfill all aspects of Ellen’s creativity.
