Rumors are currently doing the rounds that Ellen DeGeneres could be returning home with Portia De Rossi after one year of living in the UK.
Their original reasoning for their permanent move related to Donald Trump and his second term as US President, starting in November 2024. At the time, Ellen opened up, telling an audience at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, England, “We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
“I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences,” she said. “So until we’re there, I think there’s a hard place to say we have huge progress.”
Moreover, as noted by NBC News, DeGeneres referred to moves taken by the Southern Baptist Convention to back a ban on same-sex marriage, while overturning a Supreme Court ruling legalizing it across the US.
“They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it,” she said. “Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”
From the start, Ellen DeGeneres openly gushed about her new British life, including sharing clips on social media of sheep grazing around her luxurious rural home. Moreover, Ellen returned her trademark hair color to a more natural and undyed look.
However, something must have changed in Ellen and Portia’s lives, as DeGeneres has just invested a hefty $27.4 million in an off-market deal on a luxurious and stunning Montecito mansion, one year after she and her wife relocated to the UK.
DeGeneres, 67, and de Rossi, 52, are understood to have bought the California home from Hollywood producer Brian Grazer. Reportedly, the couple purchased the mansion through a trust managed by DeGeneres’ longtime business manager, Harley J. Neuman.
Degeneres has long been known as one of Hollywood’s most successful property investors and she continued that legacy when purchasing two farmhouses in the Cotswolds in the short time living there.
However, the fact that Ellen has decided to purchase a new property in Montecito, where she and Portia lived for years prior to their overseas move, will now fuel speculation that the pair are planning a return home to the US.
Admittedly, DeGeneres and De Rossi only planned to stay in the UK for a few months out of each year. However, when Donald Trump won the 2024 election, they decided to make their move permanent, to stay away from an America run by Trump. At the time, she admitted that moving to the UK in November was not the ideal scenario. However, she said she saw snow for the first time in her life, saying, “We love it here,” and adding, “Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks,” adding:
Everything here is just better—the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.
Fast forward to 2026, and the purchase of their new, luxurious Montecito mansion, which has fueled rumors of a possible return home to the US, despite Donald Trump in the presidency. While so far, it is unclear whether Ellen and Portia have bought the property as an investment property or a permanent home base in the US, having sold off most of their other California properties in the wake of their relocation to the UK.
Hopefully, Ellen DeGeneres will open up on their intentions for the Montecito estate, whether as a good property investment, or a permanent home back in the US of A.
