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<\/p>\nEllen\u00a0DeGeneres, the former queen of American daytime television, says she escaped the\u00a0social\u00a0turmoil of the United States by finding a $29 million farmhouse in the English countryside.<\/p>\n
And she would very much like the rest of us to take note. She and her wife, Portia de Rossi, reportedly arrived in Britain the day before the 2024 US election. When the results came in, accompanied, she says, by a flood of sad-face-emoji-laden texts from anxious friends, the couple made their decision: they wouldn\u2019t be going back.<\/p>\n
Now they\u2019re happily settled in the Cotswolds, that beautiful part of southern England where celebrities, rockstars and former politicians play out their fantasies of rural living. Ellen and Portia have chickens to tend, lawns to tend to, and apparently snow outside to make them feel cosy in winter.<\/p>\n
From this new pastoral perch,\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0has begun offering reflections on her adopted country. She claims in all seriousness that \u201ceverything here is just better.\u201d In the United States, she says, \u201cI just feel like there\u2019s such a divide right now. . . . There\u2019s such an intolerance, and there\u2019s so much hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeGeneres\u00a0casts herself\u00a0as a sort of progressive refugee, someone forced abroad by the rising tides of American bigotry. But it\u2019s a story that\u2019s difficult to square with the facts. For two decades, Ellen\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0wasn\u2019t merely tolerated in American culture. She was celebrated, empowered and massively enriched by it. She was a fixture of daytime TV and a gay icon whose net worth soared to more than half a billion dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeGeneres\u00a0didn\u2019t flee oppression. She fled embarrassment. Her public image began to unravel in 2020, when former staffers from\u00a0The Ellen\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0Show\u00a0accused her of fostering a toxic workplace culture. Reports described an environment rife with bullying and intimidation \u2013 a striking contrast to her brand\u2019s \u201cbe kind\u201d mantra.<\/p>\n
DeGeneres\u00a0responded with a soft-focus apology, claiming she was \u201cblunt\u201d and \u201cdirect,\u201d and wondering aloud if that made her \u201cmean.\u201d But her show lost viewers, the press turned on her and by 2022, she was off the air.<\/p>\n
DeGeneres\u00a0has since attempted a full rebrand. Gone is the dancing, pastel-clad talk show host. In her place: the world-weary expat with muddy boots, grumbling about polarization while sipping tea by a centuries-old fireplace. \u201cI\u2019m loving the simplicity,\u201d she tells one outlet. \u201cIt\u2019s just Portia and me and the animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her \u201cepiphany\u201d conveniently\u00a0doubled as an escape from an election she didn\u2019t like and a country that had fallen out of love with her. This is what Hollywood calls activism: when democracy produces results that feel uncomfortable, don\u2019t engage. Just leave. For elites like\u00a0DeGeneres, civic duty is optional. If things don\u2019t go your way, there\u2019s always another country to buy into. And this\u00a0particularly smug brand of disengagement\u00a0carries a quiet rebuke: if you\u2019re not fleeing America, maybe you\u2019re part of the problem. Maybe you just don\u2019t care enough.<\/p>\n
Of course, the England\u00a0that\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0has \u201cdiscovered\u201d bears little resemblance to the real thing. Her corner of the Cotswolds is a rural Disneyland populated by oligarchs, celebs, and financiers in cashmere. There are no trade-offs here, only upgrades, and very expensive pubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a little bit bored,\u201d she admits. \u201cI\u2019m not quite sure what to do with myself.\u201d Her days, she says, are filled with gardening jobs and building chicken coops. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna get more animals . . . we\u2019ve got bees now,\u201d she reveals.<\/p>\n
In the end, Ellen\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0hasn\u2019t made a bold political statement. Her move says nothing meaningful about America, and everything about pampered progressivism.\u00a0Ellen\u00a0DeGeneres\u00a0didn\u2019t flee fascism. She bought a mansion in the countryside.\u00a0She has confused\u00a0a retreat to luxury for virtue\u00a0and\u00a0boredom for bravery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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