Ellen DeGeneres’ Mom Betty Tells Why Daughter Has No Children

Ellen DeGeneres has been open in the past about her feelings toward having children. She’s always floated around seeking kids with wife Portia de Rossi, and DeGeneres’ mother, Betty DeGeneres, once provided some insight as to why her daughter hasn’t made the leap into the kiddie pool just yet. “Ellen has far too much class,” the 90-year-old former speech therapist told Us Weekly of her 63-year-old daughter.

The outgoing The Ellen DeGeneres Show host and de Rossi have been married since 2008, tying the knot after four years of dating. In 2015, DeGeneres opened up about why she was hesitant to start a family, making clear that she doesn’t hate kids or anything. Making clear it is the time required that is the issue.

“I love kids, but that’s such a big commitment,” the comedian told The Today Show back then. “It seems long-term. It seems like a commitment that you have to stick with. And I just don’t know if I can — it’s too risky.”

“Like, what if I don’t like the kid? What if it turns out that it’s not as cute as I wanted or as talented? I’m gonna compare it to all these kids that I have on this show that are so smart and so funny. And I’m like, ‘You are nowhere near these kids I had on today,’” DeGeneres added jokingly.

Although Betty isn’t expecting a new grandchild in her near future, she said she enjoys her time with her daughter and de Rossi. “She is wonderful,” the two-time mom said of the former Arrested Development and Ally McBeal star. “She has a business now. I just re-decorated my condo in December. Her art is all over the wall. It’s beautiful.” She added that she talks to the couple “on the phone a lot” and attended her daughter’s show every week before the COVID-19 pandemic. And for the first few seasons, she was there every single day.

“That’s why she moved me,” Betty said. “She bought me a condo in Sierra Towers, but that was a long trip everyday back and forth. So, she bought me a house two blocks from the studio.”

Better DeGeneres won’t have to make the journey to the studio much longer after her daughter’s surprising announcement that she’s walking away at the end of this season. For DeGeneres, it has been a tough period plague by accusations of workplace misconduct and bullying, the coronavirus pandemic and some high-profile gossip about DeGeneres’ attitude behind-the-scenes.

“I’m a creative person, and when you’re a creative person you constantly need to be challenged, which is why I decided to host the Oscars or why I decided to go back to stand-up when I didn’t think I would,” DeGeneres said while announcing the end of her show. “I just needed something to challenge me. And as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore. I need something new to challenge me.”

She has also denied and deflected criticism that hit her show over the past few years, calling it “orchestrated” in an interview with Today. “I thought I thought something was going on that that, because it was too orchestrated, it was too coordinated…And, you know, people get picked on but for four months straight for me, and then for me to read in the press about a toxic work environment, when, when all I’ve ever heard from every guest that comes on the show is what a happy atmosphere this is, and how, what a happy place it is.” Ellen’s tenure with her talk show will end at the conclusion of Season 19.