Ellen DeGeneres Fights Back Tears as She Takes Stage for Final Show After 19 Years

It’s an emotional end of an era for Ellen DeGeneres as the comedian bids farewell to The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday after 19 seasons in the final episode of her self-titled talk show. Ahead of Thursday’s final episode, the show released a sneak peek of DeGeneres’ final walk-out, prefaced with a montage of her entrances over the past 18 seasons. 

When the award-winning host makes her way onto the Ellen stage for the final time, the crowd can’t help but cheer as DeGeneres gets visibly emotional at the standing ovation. “Welcome to our very last show,” she tells the audience, which includes wife Portia de Rossi in the front row. Ellen‘s final show features appearances from Jennifer Aniston, Pink and Billie Eilish, all of whom will give their touch to the final chapter of DeGeneres’ career.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has won 61 Emmys over the years – 11 for outstanding talk show/entertainment talk show – breaking the record set by The Oprah Winfrey Show. DeGeneres announced in May 2021 that her talk show would be ending following the 19th season, following a toxic workplace scandal that surrounded the series. At the time, DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter that the scandal was not the reason behind her decision.

“It was very hurtful to me,” she said at the time. “I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season.” She continued that the decision was made back after Season 16. “We [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That’s been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, ‘You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19,” the Finding Dory star explained.

Following the taping of her final episode in April, DeGeneres took to social media to thank her viewers for all their love and support over the years. “When we started this show in 2003, the iPhone didn’t exist. Social Media didn’t exist. Gay marriage wasn’t legal. We watched the world change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not,” DeGeneres wrote at the time. “But whatever was happening, my goal was always for the show to be a place where we could all come together and laugh for an hour.” She concluded, “Being invited into your lives has been the greatest privilege of my life and has brought me incredible joy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”