Strange Facts About Ellen And Portia's Marriage

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are one of Hollywood's most iconic and lovable power couples. After dating for four years, the cute pair married in 2008, and they've been going strong ever since. Their relationship has always seemed pretty much amazing, and we have a sneaking suspicion we'd be hard-pressed to find a more solid couple in the entertainment industry. But how much do you really know about these two? Here are some of the stranger facts about their marriage. 

Ellen DeGeneres is well-known for playing pranks on her show's guests, but did you know her mischievous games are also fair play at home?

In November 2013, she hilariously documented a two-hour stretch in which she hid (and got stuck) in a cupboard in an attempt to scare her wife, only to find out that Portia de Rossi herself had actually been hiding in their closet waiting to scare her!

Two years after this infamous Twitter saga, the pair was at it again. This time in a series of workout-related prank videos. First, DeGeneres secretly recorded her Scandal star wife doing aerobics and uploaded the video online. "@PortiadeRossi said I could watch her do her @JaneFonda workout," she wrote in the caption. "She didn't say anything about filming & tweeting it." It wasn't long before de Rossi exacted her revenge, sharing a video of DeGeneres running on the treadmill while singing along with Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk."

When asked by Extra at the 2015 People's Choice Awards if the humorous pranking saga would continue, de Rossi called for a truce, but DeGeneres answered with an emphatic "Yes!" 

These two are total #RelationshipGoals, but they clearly need to watch their backs at home!

With Ellen DeGeneres' seemingly boundless energy and youthful looks, we often forget that there's actually about a 15-year age difference between the comedian and Portia de Rossi. DeGeneres turned 59 in 2017, while de Rossi celebrated her 44th birthday. 

The age gap has reportedly never been an issue in the pair's marriage. "I forget how old I am," DeGeneres told People in 2005. She said age only became a concern when it came to starting a family. "That's the only time I think about age; I think we should do it soon." She joked, "Poor kid, 'Mama's going to break her hip again if you don't move those toys!' When I'm around babies, I just melt. [But] it's a big responsibility."

As previously reported, kids are no longer a consideration for these two, but as they say, age is really just a number.

As the old saying goes, honesty is the best policy — and one that applies firmly to this marriage.

In 2016, Portia de Rossi talked about her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres to Entertainment Tonight: "We're just really good friends and we talk about everything, and we never ever, ever lie to each other, like, not even the tiniest lies."

For those who haven't been keeping track: the secret to a successful marriage is no fighting, no lying, and tons of pranks!

According to the rumor mill, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have always been on the verge of divorce, but that gossip couldn't be further from the truth.

In her 2015 appearance on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show, DeGeneres squashed those nasty rumors. "We don't know anything about it until somebody tells us," she told the radio host. "I don't read the tabloids, and I don't have a publicist."

"I don't know why they do this," she went on. "We're kind of flattered. ... We really don't almost break up, we don't fight, we're madly in love, and I guess it's boring."

A year later, the Finding Dori star opened up to People about her marriage. "Portia and I constantly say to each other, 'We are so lucky.' Sometimes it's lying in bed at night before I go to sleep, and I just say thank you to whatever, whoever is out there." She added, "I've gotten to a place where I really am just settled. Really. I know that I'm not going anywhere. She's not going anywhere. I'm not saying the relationship took a while; I'm saying in my life, it took a while to find this."

"There's no best part [of being married]," she said. "It's everything."

That doesn't sound boring, Ellen. It sounds perfect!

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are all about the love, not the presents.

During a joint interview with E! News around Valentine's Day 2016, DeGeneres said the couple did not plan to exchange gifts on the romantic holiday. "We do so many presents all the time," she said. "We don't even give each other presents for Christmas or birthdays anymore. We have everything." The comedian then added a heartfelt, "Love and respect — that is all we need." Talk about aww-worthy!

"It's corny, but she's my soul mate," DeGeneres added. "She's my everything to me and I don't know what I'd do without her." 

At this point, de Rossi chimed in. "There it is," she said. "That's my Valentine's Day gift."

Honestly, could these two be any sweeter?

When Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi began dating in 2004, they kept their relationship a secret. As Nicki Swift previously reported, the two met at the VH1 Music Awards that year. However, while DeGeneres had famously come out in 1997, her new girlfriend was still technically in the closet.

During her 2013 appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio, de Rossi recalled taking the bold step to live openly. "I think when I really, truly came out was the Golden Globes when Arrested Development was nominated [in 2004]," the actress told host James Lipton (via TV Guide). "Ellen and I had been together for a month and I was very, very nervous going to that because I knew that I was going to meet up with her after the show, and that there was press," she said. "And that was the first time that we actually stepped out together as a couple, but for me, it was the first time I stepped out as a gay woman, really."

In 2005, the Ally McBeal actress told The Advocate, "My feelings for her overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later."

When same-sex marriage was legalized in California in June 2008, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi could hardly wait to say "I do." However, their big day was a surprisingly small affair.

According to The Telegraph, the pair tied the knot in front of 19 guests at their beautiful Los Angeles home in August 2008. DeGeneres told People that planning a big wedding "just got to be too big and stressful." The location couldn't have been more perfect. De Rossi said, "It's where our hearts are." De Rossi, donned in a gorgeous pink and cream wedding gown, and DeGeneres, dressed in a matching suit—both custom made by fashion designer Zac Posen—exchanged handwritten vows during the intimate ceremony.

Although their romantic day was a private affair, the two didn't keep it entirely to themselves. Sweet snapshots were shared via Ellen TV and a moving wedding video was aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

As de Rossi gushed to People, "The love we felt from the people surrounding us, and the love we have for each other, made it the most beautiful and emotional day." DeGeneres chimed in, "I was already planning on spending the rest of my life with her. But until you're married, you just don't know. It feels wonderful."

No, we're not crying, you are!

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi clearly have a lot of love to give, but don't expect them to start a family anytime soon—or ever.

The question of having kids has followed the pair around for years. In 2009, de Rossi spoke with Access Hollywood to dismiss a rumor that she'd been undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment. "That was just completely made up," the actress said. "The baby [rumor] comes around annually. I find...once a year, you know, whether I deny it or not...It doesn't make any difference."

The married couple usually just laugh it off. "So I hear we are having a baby," DeGeneres joked when her wife visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2009. De Rossi quipped, "I probably should have told you before the tabloids told you."

DeGeneres firmly, yet humorously, put an end to the speculation in her 2011 book, Seriously...I'm Kidding. "People are constantly asking Portia and me if we are going to have children," the comedian wrote (via Us Weekly). "We thought about it. We love to be around children after they've been fed and bathed. But we ultimately decided that we don't want children of our own. There is far too much glass in our house." 

In 2008, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi made the decision to adopt a vegan lifestyle.

According to the HuffPost Australia, DeGeneres said, "I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn't disconnect myself from it any longer."

In 2012, de Rossi wrote a moving essay for O Magazine, outlining a beautiful moment she experienced on their farm, which led to a life-changing epiphany. "Everything was so quiet that I think the animals forgot I was there. Then I witnessed something extraordinary: The cows formed a single-file line, and one by one they touched noses with the new horse [who had just arrived at the farm] as a greeting," she wrote. "...I started crying and thought, I can't possibly keep eating these animals."

That same year, DeGeneres and de Rossi appeared on The Rachael Ray Show to discuss their vegan diets. "There are benefits to whatever you feel like you're missing out on," DeGeneres said. "You're gaining in so many other healthful ways." De Rossi added, "One of the best things about this is the weight loss. It's fun to fit in [jeans] and then stay in them. It's really hard to gain weight eating like this and you never have to count calories."

Considering their fondness for animals, it should come as no surprise that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's marriage includes animal rights advocacy.

According to People, the couple often uses DeGeneres' talk show as a platform to bring awareness to animal issues. In 2008, they did so to help pass Proposition 2 in California, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which set mandates for animals being raised for food to be provided with comfortable living conditions. 

For their efforts, the Humane Society of the United States presented the pair with the Wyler Award—a prestigious honor for celebrity animal activists. That same year, DeGeneres was named PETA's Woman of the Year. 

In 2011, the comedian devoted a corner of her website, aptly called "Going Vegan with Ellen," to encouraging and guiding her fans to adopt a vegan diet. Shortly afterward, she and de Rossi announced plans to open an animal-product-free restaurant in Hollywood. That year, DeGeneres also received the PETCO Foundation's HOPE Award. 

"I wish we lived in a world where caring for animals wasn't so rare that it deserved an award, DeGeneres said in a statement. "All I do is treat animals with the respect and dignity they deserve. I hope someday soon, everyone does the same." 

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi clearly share many passions, including interior design and flipping houses.

In 2011, they gave People an inside look at their beautiful Beverly Hills home. "We never had a house when I was growing up," DeGeneres said. "We always rented. But my father would dream, and we used to look at houses all the time. I'd pick out which bedroom would be mine and get all excited." She added, "The first thing I did when I made money was buy a house. And then..."

"Another one," de Rossi playfully interjected. "And another one and another one and another one."

This way of living, of course, means moving...and fairly often! As DeGeneres wrote in an essay for People in 2014, "One tabloid said Portia's leaving me because she doesn't like moving a lot, which is funny because she is overseeing the construction of our new house and loving it."

As Nicki Swift previously reported, they listed their gorgeous Santa Barbara home for $45 million in early 2017, so it seems the creative pair may have a new property project lined up!