Since Ellen and her wife, Portia de Rossi, have been married since 2008, people always wonder whether or not they have children.
Despite being one of the longest-lasting couples in Hollywood, Ellen and Portia do not have any children. Both Ellen and Portia have said that while they like kids, they have never had a strong yearning to have any themselves.
Read more below to find out about why Ellen and Portia don’t have kids or regrets about not having them.
No Desire for Children
As Ellen is a comedian, she has made many jokes about whether or not she wants kids whenever people ask. She has answered the question seriously though by saying to Today, “I love kids, but that’s such a big commitment. 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”. She has further said that she likes children, but does not desire them enough to make such a big, lifelong commitment.
Similarly, she believes raising a child in the public eye would be too tough on them as they would have to share their parents with the world. Children in Hollywood are also known to have troubled upbringings in the limelight. Many like Lindsay Lohan develop drug problems or have been sexualized or sexually abused like Nathan Forrest Winters.
Probably due to people always asking Ellen and Portia why they do not have kids, Ellen has a segment on her talk show called Why I Don’t Have Kids. Viewers can send in pictures or videos of their kids being mischievous that Ellen will then play on the show. Like with most things, Ellen turns the constant question about why she doesn’t want kids into a joke.
Although most parents want grandchildren and can pressure their children into having kids, Ellen’s mom, Betty DeGeneres, did no such thing. In fact, she says Ellen is “too classy for children”. Betty is happy just to spend time with Ellen and Portia. She says Portia is wonderful and Betty even has Portia’s art on her wall.
Ellen and Portia’s “Children”
Although Ellen and Portia don’t have human children, they consider their pets their children. Ellen has a deep love of animals, at one point she even wanted to be a veterinarian. She has also partnered with Prince Harry on a project for Elephants Without Borders. Together, Ellen and Portia have three cats and four dogs. The cats were all rescues and their names are: Charlie, George and Chairman. The dogs were also rescues named Wolf, Mabel, Augie and Kid. Ellen rescued Wolf from a man on the street.
She saw him mistreating the dog and went over to offer him money for the dog that was malnourished and couldn’t stand up. All of the dogs require specific and different care.
For example, she says one dog will only go upstairs and one will only go down them, so she has to carry the dogs. Taking care of her seven animals seems to be enough of a responsibility to her to not want to also have children.
Ellen and Portia may not have children of their own, but they are aunts to two nieces, Eva and Perry. Ellen and Portia seem quite close to the two girls. Ellen frequently posts pictures of them on her Instagram and they have been in a few segments on the show before.
Recently, Ellen posted a picture of Eva and talked about how proud she was as her niece donated her hair. In the caption, Ellen wrote: “I am so proud of my niece Eva, who donated to Locks of Love! Kindness has never been this adorable.”
So, although Ellen and Portia do not have children of their own, they don’t have any regrets about it. They have nieces and pets to look after and spoil instead.