Ellen DeGeneres Celebrates 20th Anniversary Of Coming Out
Ellen DeGeneres is celebrating her historic coming out episode on TV after 20 years.
To commemorate the iconic coming out of the award-winning television host, Ellen DeGeneres has sat down with Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern on her show to talk about the “The Puppy Episode” of “Ellen” and its aftermath. Oprah Winfrey has played the character's therapist while Laura Dern played her love interest during that time.
After her confession in 1997, Ellen DeGeneres has made a decision to bring the same truth to her on-screen character, Ellen Morgan. “Ellen” became controversial but it also gained praise and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series that year.
“It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do in my life and I would not change one moment of it because it led me to be exactly where I am today, standing here in front of all of you, which is a joy. And the fact that all of you and everyone at home is watching me and willing to accept me into your homes every day when no one thought that would ever happen again, it means the world to me,” Ellen DeGeneres said during the opening of her show on Friday.
The public coming out of Ellen DeGeneres earned her bomb threats, thank-you cards and the title of first openly gay leading character on television. However, she lost her career temporarily for the decision she made.
Even before Ellen DeGeneres coming out episode, the sitcom was struggling. The sitcom’s advertisers dropped contracts and the show’s rating slowed down. Then-ABC President Robert Iger cancelled “Ellen” a year later.
Years later, Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out and her return to the spotlight with her beloved show, the landscape changed dramatically for LGBTQ people in media.
In honouring the 20th anniversary of Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out, all “Ellen” episodes including the “The Puppy Episode – Parts 1 & 2“ will be available to stream for free found in Throwback section of the ABC app.
