What Happened to Ellen DeGeneres? Career Updates After She Ended Daytime Talk Show

Ellen DeGeneres was a TV fixture for 19 seasons on her daytime talk show , but fans have wondered what happened to her since the series went off the air in 2022 following her workplace scandal

What Happened to Ellen DeGeneres' Talk Show?

After launching in 2003, Ellen became a daytime staple that attracted so many A-list stars. Many of them were friends in real life, including frequent guests Jennifer Aniston and Pink , as well as members of the Kardashian family .

The show made Ellen an incredibly wealthy woman, as Celebrity Net Worth pegged her annual salary for the show – of which she was also an executive producer – at $75 million before it ended.

During the series, the Finding Nemo star became known as the "Queen of Nice," thanks to her "be kind" mantra.

In 2010, Ellen shared a serious monologue with viewers about the epidemic of teenage bullying and suicides that resulted from it. In a 2016 Facebook post next to the video, she wrote, "After this, I started ending my show every day by asking everyone to treat each other with kindness. 5 years later, I haven’t stopped. It means just as much when I say it today as it did then. Be kind to one another."

Ellen DeGeneres Was Accused of Having a 'Toxic' Workplace

The Queen of Nice's crown fell in 2020, when a report by Buzzfeed News talked to nearly a dozen current and former staffers who claimed Ellen and several of her top executives created a toxic work environment behind the scenes.

Ellen wrote an email to her crew obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on July 30, 2020, where she took responsibility as the show ultimately bore her name. She promised to "correct the issues” going forward, telling employees, "As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again."

In August of that year, three longtime execs, including executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman , and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman departed the talk show.

In September 2020 when kicking off season 18, Ellen apologized and directly addressed the situation with her audience.

“I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected,” the comedian said during her opening monologue.

“We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter,” she added.

Ellen DeGeneres Ends Her Talk Show

In May 2021, Ellen announced that her upcoming 19th season of her talk show would be her last.

One year later in a May 25, 2022, interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of her final show, Ellen admitted, "I knew going in that this season was going to be my last season, so I really tried to take everything in. And it’s funny because the last couple of months I was more emotional than I was in the last week or two. I got really emotional about two months out, but that last week I wasn’t because I really just wanted to enjoy it. I was working with [former monk] Jay Shetty a lot, too, on being present and I was. I was very present for all of it."

"There was a time a couple of months out where I was crying every day. I was really emotional, even though it was my choice, and it’s the right choice. I knew it was time to end this chapter and to do something different, but still it was really emotional," she added.

Ellen said at the time that she planned to take time off to travel and possibly return to her stand-up comedy roots.

Ellen DeGeneres Does Final Stand-Up Comedy Tour

Nearly two years after her talk show ended its 19-season run, Ellen returned to stand-up with her set Ellen’s Last Stand… Up , including a 27-stop summer tour. It kicked off in San Diego, California, on June 19, 2024, and ends with two shows at Minneapolis, Minnesota's Orpheum Theater on August 16 and 17, 2024. The shows are labelled "special taping," and are believed to be for a Netflix special featuring her comedy act.

At her tour stop in Santa Rosa, California, on July 3, Ellen said she was "done" after the tour, seeming to hint at retirement from the entertainment industry.

“This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done,” she said according to SFGate .

An audience member asked Ellen if she would be reprising her role as Dory in Finding Nemo 2 , and she fired back, “No, I’m going bye-bye, remember."