Ellen DeGeneres dropped some big news on Ellen’s Thursday’s (May 13) episode – a preview of which was released on Wednesday (May 12).
“Next season, Season 19, is going to be my last season,” she told the audience. “The past 18 years, you have to know, has changed my life. You all have changed my life. And I am forever to all of you for watching, for dancing, sometimes crying.”
She got choked up as she spoke: “This show has been the greatest experience of my life and I owe it all to you.”
“You may wonder why I’ve decided to end after 19 seasons,” she later added. “The truth is, I always trust my instincts. My instinct told me it’s time. As a comedian, I’ve always understood the importance of timing, and in all seriousness, I truly have felt like next season was the right time to end this amazing chapter.”
Ellen also opened up about her decision to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time,” she told the outlet. “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore. I need something new to challenge me.”
And in her appearance on the Today show Thursday (May 13), Ellen also talked about the workplace controversy surrounding her show – the show faced allegations of a “toxic work environment” which prompted the production to go on hiatus while an internal investigation was launched – and said that it was not the reason she decided to end Ellen.
“If it was why I was quitting, I would have not come back this year,” she said. “I really did think about not coming back, because it was devastating. It started with attacks on me and attacking everything that I stand for and believe in and built my career around… I am a kind person. I am a person who likes to make people happy.
She also noted how she didn’t really understand how she ended up in the middle of the controversy.
“I really didn’t understand it…I still don’t understand it…It was too orchestrated. It was too coordinated,” she said. “People get picked on, but for four months straight? For me to read in the press about a toxic work environment when all I’ve ever heard from every guest that comes on the show is what a happy atmosphere this is and what a happy place it is.”
She also touched on the decline in the show’s ratings over the past year, pointing out that other programs also fell in ratings.
“It’s more for this one because we had further to fall. And everybody else was at a lower place, so they didn’t have as far to fall,” she said. “To be honest. I mean, that’s the truth, we were very, very successful… Everything in television is down.”
“It’s got nothing to do with why I’m leaving,” she added. “If I was having fun, I would do this show with nobody watching. So it’s got nothing to do with that.”
Still, she’s proud of everything that they were able to accomplish throughout the show’s long run.
“I most proud of going 19 years on this show. I mean, this is an accomplishment,” she said. “I’m proud of the kind of show we do. I’m proud that we are funny. I’m proud that we are helpful to people, and that we represent acts of kindness, and highlighting people that we want to say, ‘Look at this person doing good.'”
The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been on the air since September 8, 2003 and has won 61 Daytime Emmy Awards throughout its 18-season run. They recently celebrated the 3,000th episode. On Ellen’s Thursday (May 12) episode, the host will be sitting down with her long-time friend and predecessor Oprah Winfrey and the two are expected to discuss her exit from the show in more detail.
