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Ellen DeGeneres on Getting Kicked Out After Coming Out

Aired on 04/30/1997 | CC
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres broke new ground when her character came out as a lesbian on the her hit sitcom Ellen. In real life, Ellen had her own coming-out journey that was, in some ways, quite different than her character's.

As she revealed to Oprah in 1997, there were a variety of responses to her coming out. Ellen's strictly religious father simply didn't want to talk about it. However, his wife, Ellen's stepmother, took a more severe stance. Ellen had been living with them at the time, and her stepmother grew concerned that Ellen would have a negative influence on her two young daughters. It wasn't long before Ellen's father and stepmother asked her to find a new place to live.

Here, the groundbreaking television personality reveals how she coped with people who saw her sexual orientation as a danger.