Ellen Degeneres Almost Married College Sweetheart Ben Heath Before Meeting Portia De Rossi

Ellen DeGeneres hasn’t always been a lesbian, and while that fact may not come as a shocker to most people, did you know that she almost married college heartthrob Ben Heath back in her younger days?

As with many celebrities, and everyday people too, it is often later in life that they come out of the closet if they discover that they are gay after all. Ellen Degeneres is one such person who was hetrosexual in her college days, only to discover later that she was in fact a lesbian.

Ben Heath, a hunky football player during college, spoke to Star magazine recently, as reported by Radar Online, about his previous relationship with Ellen: “We had fun times, whether it was dancing or horseback riding, the kind of stuff us country guys do,” Heath said.

He also spoke to the publication about how he and Ellen would go clubbing, even though she wasn’t old enough to get in, noting that she had a remarkable way of “talking her way in” to just about anywhere:

“I remember on some dates we went to an old club in Taxarkana. She wasn’t old enough, but she could talk her way in. We’d go up there and go dancing, do the bump to the old David Bowie songs, that kind of stuff. Obviously, she was a lot of fun — her wit and humor, she always had that. That kept things alive, kept the conversation good.”

Classicalite reported the relationship between Ben Heath and Ellen DeGeneres is no secret as Ellen has already spoken to reporters about it in the past. It turns out that, at the time, not only did Ellen not know she was a lesbian, she was so smitten with Ben that she badly wanted to marry him.

“I wanted to marry Ben desperately,” the talk show host shared, continuing, “I’m sure I’d have a nice place with Ben somewhere, and we’d have kids, and I wouldn’t have known. I could have chosen to live my life in a way just to fit into society. But I would not be happy.”

Good for you Ellen! Why should you live your life in a way just to fit in with society? It’s a brave move to come out of the closet, but is always a good move as living a lie is not a good option.

For Ben’s part, he said in the interview that he wasn’t surprised at all when Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay in 1997 as his relationship with her, while intense, was totally not intimate or physical and that the two would have remained friends if Ellen wouldn’t have moved away.

“I’d feel like we’d have been good friends if she’d stayed here,” Heath said, “regardless of her sexual orientation.”