Ellen DeGeneres is starting a fresh chapter — both literally and figuratively — sporting a new brunette look and settling into life in England.
The 66-year-old former talk show host has traded Hollywood for the English countryside and appears to have marked the transition with a bold new look.
In an Instagram Reel shared by Jeremy Clarkson’s pub The Farmer’s Dog and singer Natalie Imbruglia on November 13, DeGeneres was spotted enjoying an intimate live music session alongside her wife, Portia de Rossi, 51, and friends.
The clip shows Imbruglia singing with the crowd before panning to DeGeneres, who waves to the camera — sporting a surprising transformation. Gone is her famous platinum blonde hair; in its place, a shorter, darker hairstyle.
On November 21, People confirmed DeGeneres had officially moved to England’s celeb-loved Cotswolds region, where she and de Rossi have already embraced their new community.
“Ellen was in England house hunting in the beginning of October,” a source said. “She ended up finding a house that she loved and purchased it shortly after.”
DeGeneres’s pub outing included rubbing elbows with Clarkson’s wife Lisa Hogan, James Blunt and The Corrs, who performed that evening. The pub is quickly becoming a hotspot for the couple’s low-key social life.
DeGeneres’ lifestyle change comes two years after The Ellen DeGeneres Show — which ran for 19 seasons — wrapped in May 2022, following allegations of a toxic workplace environment that surfaced in 2020. The controversy began with a July 2020 BuzzFeed News report, where current and former employees anonymously shared troubling accounts, including claims of being penalized for taking medical leave, racial microaggressions, and fears of retaliation for raising complaints.
In a May 2021 appearance on Today, DeGeneres addressed the fallout, telling Savannah Guthrie, “I really didn’t understand it; I still don’t understand it. It was too orchestrated; it was too coordinated.”
This year, DeGeneres reflected on her exit from the spotlight in her Netflix comedy special, Ellen’s Last Stand…Up.
“Let me catch you up on what’s been going on with me since you last saw me,” she quipped. “I got chickens. Oh yeah, and I got kicked out of show business for being mean.”
Doubling down on her decision to leave fame behind, she declared, “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
