Everything Here is Better

Ellen DeGeneres has traded California sunshine and ocean views for rolling hills and cozy pubs in England's quaint Cotswolds region. Us reveals the real story behind her big move and exclusive details about her new life with wife Portia de Rossi

- by JAIME HARKIN

On a Sunday afternoon in late July, Ellen De- Generes walked onto the stage at the historic Cheltenham Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, England, to the tune of Harry Styles' "You're So Golden," then sat in front of a crowd of nearly 700 people for a surprise Q&A session. During the event, the former talk show host — who's remained mostly under the radar since ending her long-running chatfest in 2022 — discussed everything from her early days in showbiz to her 2020 fall from grace to what the future holds.

She also shed light on her recent decision to leave her beloved Montecito, California, neighborhood for greener pastures in the U.K. In November 2024, DeGeneres, 67, and her wife of 17 years, Portia de Rossi, 52, officially relocated to the Cotswolds an idyllic region in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, stone cottages... and posh yet privacy-seeking A-listers like David and Victoria Beckham. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she told the audience of her adopted home. “Everything here is better.”

According to sources, DeGeneres has found her happy place. She spends her days contentedly tending to her chickens, ushering sheep out of her open-air living room and walking to the local pub for lunch. “It’s a different lifestyle for her,” says an insider. “She's very chill and in her element.” She and de Rossi reside in a stunning 10,000-square-foot home called Hia- ven, which they bought for a reported $26 million. (Their original Cotswolds property, Kitesbridge Farm, is cur- rently up for sale for $30 million.)