Entertainment
Ellen DeGeneres Says She Was Sexually Assaulted by Her Stepfather as a Teen
Published
4 years agoon

- Ellen DeGeneres opened up about being sexually assaulted by her stepfather as a teen in an upcoming episode of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.”
- DeGeneres said that around the time her mother was battling breast cancer, he convinced her that he needed to feel her breasts to check for lumps.
- She said he tried to do this again and again and at one point tried breaking her bedroom door down, leading her to kick out her window and run away.
- The comedian says she hopes sharing her story will encourage other girls to stand up for themselves and come forward with their own stories.
Ellen’s Story
Ellen DeGeneres opened up about being sexually assaulted as a teenager in hopes that sharing her story can help other victims.
During a season 2 episode of Netflix’s “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman,” the comedian and daytime talk show host says she was assaulted by her stepfather, who she did not name on the show.
According to Entertainment Tonight, Ellen explained that when she was a teen, her mother, Betty DeGeneres, married a “very bad man.”
She said that just after getting married, Betty was diagnosed with breast cancer and had one of her breasts removed. Betty’s husband then used this information to sexually assault her.
“He told me when she was out of town that he’d felt a lump in her breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn’t want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine,” DeGeneres told Letterman.
The now 61-year-old said that he managed to convince her because she “didn’t know about bodies” at the time. “And then he tries to do it again another time, and then another time,” she said.
Then she said things escalated. ‘He tries to break my door down, and I kicked the window out and ran cause I knew it was going to go more to something… and I didn’t want to tell my mother cause I was protecting her and I knew that would ruin her happiness.”
Not Believed
DeGeneres added that she hid the assault from her mother for a few years. When she finally did talk about it, she says she wasn’t believed and her mother then stayed in that relationship for 18 more years.
She said her mother finally left her husband “because he’d changed the story so many times” and is now very apologetic about everything that happened.
“I’m angry at myself because, you know, I didn’t — I was too weak to stand up to — I was 15 or 16,” Ellen explained.
DeGeneres went on to say that she hopes coming forward with her story will help other victims.
“It’s a really horrible, horrible story and the only reason I’m actually going to go into detail about it is because I want other girls to not ever let someone do that,” she said.
“We [women] just don’t feel like we’re worthy, or we’re scared to have a voice, and we’re scared to say no.”
“That’s the only reason I think it’s important to talk about it because there’s so many young girls and it doesn’t matter how old you are. When I see people speaking out, especially now, it angers me when victims aren’t believed, because we just don’t make stuff up. And I like men, but there are so many men that get away with so much.”
“It is just time for us to have a voice. It’s time for us to have power,” she added.
Past Discussions
Though this might be the first time many have heard her story, the comedian has talked about her abuse in the past.
She briefly spoke about it during an interview on the Today show in October of 2018, after Christine Blasey Ford made accusations about Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“As a victim of sexual abuse, I am furious at people who don’t believe it and who say, ‘How do you not remember exactly what day it was?” she said at the time. “You don’t remember those things. What you remember is what happened to you, where you were, and how you feel. That’s what you remember.”
She also spoke about her abusive stepfather in a 2005 interview with Allure and in a 2007 interview with Barbara Walters.
Season 2 of Letterman’s Netflix show premieres on Friday, May 31 and along with DeGeneres, it features guests like Kanye West, Tiffany Haddish, and Melinda Gates.
See what others are saying: (Entertainment Tonight) (Fox News) (Complex)
Entertainment
Max to Agrees to “Properly” Credit Writers and Directors After Facing Backlash For Lumping Them in As “Creators”
Published
1 week agoon
May 24, 2023
The company said the credits were laid out incorrectly due to “an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max.”
After film and television writers slammed Max for crediting all writers, producers, and directors as general “creators” on its platform, the company said it will be adjusting its credits display.
“We agree that the talent behind the content on Max deserve their work to be properly recognized,” the streaming service said in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Max — the new rebrand of HBO Max that incorporates Discovery content — launched on Tuesday to much criticism. Amid glitches and app-switching confusion, the biggest backlash it faced was over the choice to lump creative roles into one credit section called “creators.” As one viral tweet noted, if a user were to select the film “Raging Bull,” the service’s display would not specifically credit Martin Scorsese as the director, rather, his name would be included at random with half a dozen other people, including writers and producers.
The new HBO Max (MAX) has eliminated writer/director credits in their interface in favor of a vague "Creators." This is what Raging Bull currently looks like. It's so fucking over. pic.twitter.com/gPveQ469GB
— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) May 24, 2023
The decision was condemned by many in the industry who argued it minimizes writers and directors by not properly giving them credit where it is due. Especially amid the ongoing writers’ strike, and with directors and actors starting negotiations with studios, some took it as a slap in the face.
“The studios don’t want anyone to know our names,” writer Christina Strain tweeted. “It’s easier to pay us nothing if we’re faceless.”
The studios don’t want anyone to know our names. It’s easier to pay us nothing if we’re faceless. https://t.co/JgqKGRkJng
— Christina Strain (@christinastrain) May 24, 2023
“Another move from studios to diminish the role of writers, directors, actors and other craftspeople. Miss me wit this nonsense,” Jorge Rivera, the Vice-Chair of the Writers Guild’s Latinx Writers Committee, added.
“Creators.” Another move from studios to diminish the role of writers, directors, actors and other craftspeople. Miss me wit this nonsense. https://t.co/MN0nCzLWhh
— Jorge Rivera (@riverag3000) May 24, 2023
In a statement, Directors Guild President Lesli Linka Glatter said that Warner Bros. Discovery’s choice to “collapse” these roles into one credit “while we are in negotiations with them is a grave insult to our members and our union.”
“The DGA will not stand for it,” Glatter continued.
WGA West President Meredith Stiehm claimed the move was “a credits violation,” as well as an insult “to the artists that make the films and TV shows that make their corporation billions.”
On Wednesday, Max said it would rework its crediting.
“We will correct the credits, which were altered due to an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max and we apologize for this mistake,” the platform said.
See what others are saying: (Gizmodo) (The Hollywood Reporter) (The Los Angeles Times)
Entertainment
A Quarter of Young British Men Support Andrew Tate’s Thoughts on Women
Published
1 week agoon
May 22, 2023
U.K. residents at large, however, do not view him favorably.
Even under house arrest in Romania, misogynist influencer Andrew Tate still holds substantial sway over young men.
According to data from YouGov that was obtained by The Independent, 26% of U.K. men between 18 and 29 years old who know of Tate agree with his views on women. That figure was largely the same for men between 30 and 39, as 28% agreed with Tate’s opinions on the subject.
Men in their 30s were slightly more likely to agree with Tate on his thoughts about masculinity. Three out of ten supported those views, compared to just a quarter of men 18 to 29.
Those statistics only include the thoughts of men who have heard of Tate, but per YouGov, most have. In the 18 to 29 group, 93% were familiar with him, and 86% of men in their 30s knew of him.
The U.K. at large was less aware of Tate, with just 63% of British adults having heard of him. Of that group, only 6% held a positive view of him.
Tate has faced substantial backlash for his sexist rhetoric over the years. In the past, he said that men should have “authority” over their wives or girlfriends, and that women should “bear some responsibility” for being raped. He was previously banned from Twitter over his extremist views on women but has since been allowed back on the platform.
He is currently being investigated in Romania for organized crime and human trafficking. He was arrested and held in custody in December but was released to house arrest earlier this year. No formal charges have been filed against him yet and he has maintained his innocence.
Tate currently boasts a Twitter following of 6.7 million. It has grown significantly since he was enveloped in legal controversy, and many of his supporters have demanded his release.
See what others are saying: (The Independent) (Glamour U.K.)
Entertainment
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Involved in “Near Catastrophic” Paparazzi Chase
Published
2 weeks agoon
May 17, 2023
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety,” a spokesperson for the couple said.
“Aggressive” Paparazzi Chase Couple in New York
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were involved in a “near catastrophic” paparazzi car chase Tuesday night in New York City, according to a spokesperson for the couple.
In a statement, the spokesperson described the photographers as “highly aggressive.”
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety,” the statement added.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” it continued.
Details of the incident are still emerging, but BBC News reported that there are claims the chase involved roughly six cars driving recklessly by running red lights, driving on the sidewalk, carrying out blocking moves, going backward on a one-way road, and taking pictures while driving.
The chase happened after Harry and Meghan were leaving the Women of Vision Awards with Meghan’s mother, Doria. They did not want photographers to learn where they were staying and attempted to avoid them in what turned into a 75-minute chase on a main road in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. They eventually ducked into a New York Police Department Precinct to hide out before getting into a different vehicle.
The NYPD released a statement confirming that they assisted in protecting the couple as “numerous photographers” hindered their transport. Officials said they made it to their destination and there were no collisions, injuries, or arrests.
The couple’s spokesperson is asking the public to not share or post footage of the incident.
“Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved,” the spokesperson said.
Memories of Princess Diana
The chase evokes the brutal press hounding Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was subjected to throughout her life. The paparazzi’s obsession with her ultimately resulted in her death in 1997, when she was killed in a car crash after being chased by photographers in Paris.
Since marrying Meghan and later bowing out of the Royal Family, Harry has made it explicitly clear that he fears those events could happen again. Meghan has been the subject of endless tabloid scrutiny, enduring racism and harassment from the press. Part of the reason they left the Royal Family was to keep their family protected from such attacks.
Mayor Eric Adams brought up Diana’s tragic passing while speaking about Tuesday night’s chase.
“I don’t think there’s many of us who don’t recall how [Harry’s] mom died,” Adams said while speaking to reporters. “And it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well…I think that was a bit reckless and irresponsible.”
Adams also questioned whether or not he believes a chase could go on for two hours in a city as congested as New York, but noted that even a 10-minute chase would be dangerous. He said he will be briefed on the exact timeline and details later.
See what others are saying: (BBC News) (Associated Press) (Yahoo News)

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