Ellen DeGeneres ‘announces retirement’: ‘This is the last time you’re going to see me’

Ellen DeGeneres has seemingly teased her retirement, telling fans she is “done” at a stand-up show earlier this month.

The talk show host and comedian, 66, told the audience on “Ellen’s Last Stand… Up” tour that she will be finished with fame once she plays her final dates, which will be filmed for a new Netflix special.

During the Q&A section of the show, held at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, one fan asked if DeGeneres would go back to doing films after the tour ended, or if she would like to do theatre on Broadway.

“Um, no,” DeGeneres said, according to SFGate. “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”

Another person said they were hoping DeGeneres would reprise her voice role as the forgettable fish Dory in the movies Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, but she told them: “No, I’m going bye-bye, remember.”

In her stand-up shows, which began in June, DeGeneres has been addressing the accusations of a toxic work environment from staff on her TV series The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Ellen Show, which had hosted celebrities from Taylor Swift and Steve Carell to Britney Spears and Ryan Gosling, came to an end after two decades in 2022, amid allegations of racism, sexual misconduct, and intimidation behind-the-scenes.

DeGeneres apologised on air, and after an investigation by WarnerMedia, three producers were fired.

Elsewhere during the Santa Rosa stand-up show, DeGeneres said she had been “kicked out of show business for being mean” and confessed that she can be “demanding and impatient and tough”.

She mainted, however, that she is not “mean”, stating: “I am a strong woman. I am many things, but I am not mean.”

DeGeneres has previously said she “hated” the fact that her show ended on such a terrible note. “I loved that show so much,” she said.

Earlier this year, DeGeneres opened up about how the scandal had affected her marriage. DeGeneres, who has been married to Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi for 16 years, said the “funk” began to damage their relationship as she struggled to leave her home during the “hard time”.

DeGeneres said: “She was watching it happen to me... she went through it with me.”