What, oh what shall we do when Oprah Winfrey ends her talk show to start her TV network? Who will tell us what to read? Where will Julia Roberts promote her movies based on Oprah’s book club choices? Whose couch will Tom Cruise jump on?

Some of you younger readers have never known a world without Oprah. Her talk show has been on for 25 years.

Never fear. Oprah has chosen her successor, and it’s Ellen DeGeneres.

You know it’s serious when somebody besides Oprah appears on the cover of “O” magazine. Ellen was the second woman to achieve that feat. Michelle Obama was the first.

Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres have become Hollywood’s newest BFFs!

Oprah will be wrapping up production of her long-running show after 25 years and launching her OWN network in Los Angeles in January. And she’s now ready to “pass the talk-show queen torch” to Ellen, said a source.

The Enquirer has learned the women recently shared an intimate dinner — Ellen bringing along wife Portia de Rossi and Oprah with her closest friend, Gayle King.

“They’ve always been fond of each other, but Oprah sees Ellen as her successor. She’s wanted to personally give Ellen advice on turning herself into a worldwide media brand,” explained the source.

After spending a great deal of time communicating via phone and e-mail, Ellen invited Oprah and Gayle to join her and Portia at their Los Angeles home for a gourmet vegan dinner.

“At the intimate gathering, Oprah gave Ellen advice on how to carry on with her upbeat, heartfelt approach to TV talk,” explained the source.

Meanwhile, Gayle and Portia chatted in another room, according to the source.

The four have become fast friends. Ellen, 52, became the second woman — after Michelle Obama — to ever appear on the cover of “O” magazine with Oprah in December 2009. And Portia, 37, recently appeared on Oprah’s show to discuss her autobiography, Unbearable Lightness, which chronicles her battle with anorexia and coming to terms with her sexuality.

But the get-together nearly never happened — after Oprah, 56, kept her hosts waiting for more than an hour, explaining that she’d been stuck in traffic.

According to the source, Ellen joked: “You’re an L.A. girl now — get used to it!”

[National Enquirer, print edition, December 20, 2010]

It’s interesting that Enquirer portrays this as a big happy girls’ club, even using the word “intimate” twice, so soon after Oprah’s recent teary admission that she’s not a lesbian.

I’m just relieved Oprah didn’t choose Dr. Phil to be the new talk-show queen, but I wager Rosie O’Donnell is not at all happy.

Portia de Rossi promoted her new memoir, Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, in an emotional appearance on Oprah yesterday. The 37 year-old actress candidly described what she went through struggling with anorexia and bulimia. The more Portia’s television career took off, the more disordered she ate, reasoning that she needed to lose weight to look good on camera. Some of the stories Portia told Oprah were incredibly heartbreaking, particularly one in which she says she was treated cruelly on a photoshoot in which she didn’t fit into the clothing. She also described how she would erratically exercise on the spot by running and jumping to try and burn off the calories from whatever bit of food she had eaten, including a few sticks of gum or some morsels at Thanksgiving with her family.

Portia de Rossi sat down with Oprah for an emotional interview about her anorexic past to air Monday.

“It wasn’t that I was proud of it,” she said. “But it was certainly a recognition for my self control. I definitely had some pretty amazing willpower to get down to 82 pounds. And that’s what I was holding on to. I didn’t think about anything else.”

Portia reveals that she ate only 300 calories a day at the height of her disorder, and E! reports that she attributes her food issues to anxiety over being gay.

[From The Huffington Post]

We know her story has a happy ending, and that she found love and acceptance from her now-wife, Ellen DeGeneres. When Ellen and Portia discussed their relationship, I actually got misty-eyed.

Ellen explained on Oprah that she understood that Portia had a severe eating disorder, but didn’t realize how bad it was until she read parts of the book. “I knew it had been bad, but I didn’t know what it takes to get to that point. The insanity of the repetitious behavior and the loneliness and the hiding.” Ellen added that she hopes Portia helps others by revealing such personal and painful information. She said “She saves me every minute of the day. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” It’s clear that Portia feels the same.

You can watch videos of Ellen’s segment and Portia discussing her over-exercise on Oprah.com.

Portia de Rossi, who has changed her legal name to take on her wife Ellen’s name, Degeneres, has a new memoir coming out in early November called Unbearable Lightness. We first heard in a February interview with the Advocate that Portia was writing a book and I’m surprised to learn that it’s out already. As the title might suggest, it deals with Portia’s lifelong battle with eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia. I remember hearing that Portia had some issues with anorexia but I had no idea how bad it was. Entertainment Weekly has a review, and what Portia went through sounds brutal.

Portia de Rossi — now known in private life by her married name, Portia Lee James DeGeneres — knew she wanted to be famous back when she was an Australian teen named Amanda Lee Rogers. Lucky L.A. hopeful, her dream came true. On TV, de Rossi is especially famous for her roles on Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, and just regular-famous for her parts on Nip/Tuck and Better Off Ted. And on the red 
 carpet, she is most recently famous for her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres. We’ve seen “Porshe” — as her family calls her — look blond and blonder, and have admired her sparkle; we’ve also seen her look thin and thinner, and we’ve wondered about her health in a business that fetishizes feminine coltishness.

Unbearable Lightness, de Rossi’s memoir of a lifetime of starving and bingeing and purging (as well as part of a lifetime hiding her sexuality), is at times so wrenching that it’s difficult to imagine how the author, now 37, has kept her misery hidden for so long. ”Since I was a twelve-year-old girl taking pictures in my front yard to submit to modeling agencies, I’d never known a day when my weight wasn’t the determining factor for my self-esteem,” she writes with weary honesty. At her most perilously anorexic, the publicly glamorous TV star weighed 82 pounds. Ten months later, in the depths of bulimic bingeing, she had doubled in size. As an autobiographer she reports this with a vivid eye for detail, particularly about foods devoured, foods refused, and the ways a woman can hide her self-destruction, particularly when posing under the searchlights of fame.

The blunt, pity-free matter-of-factness with which de Rossi shares secrets and lies about her eating disorders and her sexuality makes this forthright confessional story at once shocking and instructional, especially for younger women who may be secretly suffering on their own.

[From Entertainment Weekly, print edition, via Check User Account, ONTD]

Portia has stayed under the radar for a while, and has pretty much been known as Ellen’s better half for years. She’s had solid work on television, and in the past few years has starred on Arrested Development, Nip/Tuck and the now-canceled Better off Ted. As far as publicity goes she hasn’t received much apart from her relationship with Ellen, but all that is about to chance when she promotes this book. I’d like to know if there are more revelations in this book, and if she reveals much about her marriage to Ellen. They seem very solid and like they’re very much in love. I don’t know if I believe that Portia has conquered anorexia. She’s still very tiny, but she’s probably the only person who can say how much her weight continues to preoccupy her.

Header image is from April, 2009. Credit: Fame. Other image dates are below and credit WENN.com

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Ellen DeGeneres’ wife of almost two years, Portia de Rossi, 37, has filed paperwork to legally take on DeGeneres as her last name. I’m reporting this because I want to say how happy I am for these two, but also that I’m relieved to no longer have to look up the exact capitalization and spacing of their last names. This couple has/had the hardest last names. It’s hard to remember that the “de” in de Rossi is lower case with a space before Rossi, especially when DeGeneres is all one word. I get why celebrities take on stage names, because some names can be hard to accurately spell and pronounce. (Not that they need to be homogenized! It can just be tricky sometimes.) Here’s more:

Portia de Rossi’s second anniversary gift for Ellen DeGeneres? A name change.

The actress, who tied the knot with the talk show host, 52, on Aug. 17, 2008, has asked the court to legally change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres, according to a petition filed Friday in L.A. County Superior Court.

As for the reason, the papers, which were initially signed by Rossi, 37, in March, say, “Petitioner is taking the last name of her spouse.”

But de Rossi isn’t a DeGeneres just yet. The name change won’t be official until a hearing, scheduled for Sept. 23, takes place.

A rep for the talk show host had no comment.

TMZ.com was first to report on the filing.

[From People]

Now Portia will be Portia DeGeneres! I took on my husband’s last name, and it’s phonetically similar to my maiden name like Portia’s is to Ellen’s. I think it’s kind of cute that his name isn’t that different from my original one, and I was proud to take my husband’s last name. (To each their own, though, and I understand why people keep their maiden names or use hyphenations.) Congratulations to Ellen and Portia on their second anniversary and Portia’s name change! That’s a nice gesture, and one Ellen surely appreciates.

There’s a new interview with Ellen DeGeneres’ wife, Portia de Rossi, in The Advocate. She comes across as thoughtful and grounded as she talks about the fight for same sex rights along with her decision to publish an as-of-yet unwritten autobiography, due out this fall. The article references Portia’s troubled past, when she was on Ally McBeal in the late 90s and was struggling with anorexia and bulimia. Portia, 37, is now much more content and is half of the worlds most famous lesbian couple. Her wife, Ellen DeGeneres, regularly cracks jokes about their home life on her popular talk show. We haven’t heard a lot from Portia recently, but that’s about to change. She tells The Advocate that she’s happy to help further the cause for same sex marriage rights and hints that her profile is about to raise as she writes her book. Portia may become the face of the marriage equality movement:

On advocating for same sex rights
After so many years dancing around questions about her sexuality, she first spoke with The Advocate in 2005, talking at length about her relationship with DeGeneres. But even then she avoided talking politics.

But four years later, during an appearance on The View to promote her sitcom, ABC’s Better Off Ted, De Rossi didn’t hesitate before she schooled conservative host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on what marriage really means: “Without the word, we don’t have equal rights.… Every citizen of this country should have that right.”

“I’ve had fun there in the past,” De Rossi says of the show. “But just before I was scheduled to appear, the New York legislature voted on marriage and it failed. It was so disappointing to me. And I thought, if I’m going on The View and I have a viewpoint, I might as well talk about it. It’s more important than talking about a TV show.”…

“Ever since Ellen and I got together, I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to actually—God, this sounds corny…” She rolls her eyes at herself, fidgets, and then forges ahead. “Well, I feel like my life can actually kind of stand for something. And I don’t mean that in a self-aggrandizing way, like, ‘Look at me, I can make a difference.’ But I feel like, maybe I get why I’m here.”…

“I think it’s up to us to save marriage,” she says. “Up to gay people across the country, seeing as though we’re fighting for it so vehemently.” De Rossi has an impressive ability to marry the personal and political: “This whole thing has been a wave of excitement and hope, and then it gently falls back into despair. And then it picks us up again. Unfortunately, we’re the ones who have to suffer this—this humiliation, really. There’s kind of a dignity that’s been stripped from us. Gay people are the ones who have to suffer through it—but without it, it won’t change.”

On her relationship with Ellen
“To think that a married gay couple is considered boring and normal is fantastic,” she says. “Happiness is a choice too. It’s a choice to live in a state of gratitude and to fix what makes you unhappy. Being honest with who you are, being able to go out into the world and show people that you can be successful and be happy and be in a good marriage—it’s important.”

Mostly, they have so far avoided letting their notoriety get the better of them by communicating with each other. “I tell her all my insecurities, all of my worries, and within a few minutes I feel better,” De Rossi says. “She’s just so helpful to me. I think I help her too. I keep her focused on what’s important and what the big picture is. I think that’s what a good couple does for each other.” …

On her book
This is the first time she’s talked to a reporter about it. “I wanted to see what kind of book I was writing,” she says. “It will deal with all the secrets that nearly killed me.” Approached by an agent at William Morris to write about eating disorders, De Rossi wasn’t sure she could do it. Nevertheless, she’s writing it from a firsthand perspective without the typical celebrity-assist ghostwriter. “Nobody can really get inside the anorexic’s mind like the anorexic,” she says, referring to her own battles with an eating disorder.

[From The Advocate]

I really admire the way Portia is so matter-of-fact in the way she explains the fight for same sex rights. There’s something quiet and reluctant but steadfast about her. Like she feels uncomfortable putting herself out there but has made peace with it and knows it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t make sense to me that it’s 2010 and same sex couples don’t have the same rights as everyone else. I also find it baffling that there are people who are openly fighting the fact that there are couples who want to settle down and have families. Isn’t that what that side claims to value? I look forward to seeing what’s next for Portia.

The Advocate also has photos of Portia in their article that feature her in 1920s styling and she looks incredible. Some of the photos are here, and there are more on The Advocate’s website.

Elle DeGeneres has finally gotten a magazine cover! Except that she’s on the cover of magazines all the time… so why is this one a big deal? Because Ellen’s prayers have been answered – after months and months of pleading, begging, joking and bribing, Ellen is sharing the December O Magazine cover with Oprah herself. This is only the second time in the history of O Magazine that Oprah has shared the cover – the first time, it was with First Lady Michelle Obama. Apparently, there are several variations on the cover image – one has Ellen sitting on a huge wrapped present, one has Oprah on the gift. Another has Oprah wrapping Ellen up in Christmas lights.

When asked about her decision to finally let Ellen on the cover, Oprah says: “Ellen DeGeneres is a woman who can make things happen. When she decided she wanted to be on the cover of O, she pulled out all the stops. It worked – for only the second time in O history, I’m sharing the cover with a woman I adore. When Ellen arrived at the photo shoot for our cover, I didn’t have to ask her how she was doing: it showed on her face. She radiated the kind of peace and satisfaction that comes only when you’re living at your highest potential.” In the interview (excerpt from Us Weekly), Ellen talks about how she knew her wife Portia de Rossi was “the one”.

Ellen DeGeneres says she’s found the One.

In the December issue of O: The Oprah Magazine, DeGeneres, 51, tells Oprah Winfrey that she and Portia de Rossi “are perfect for each other.”

The comedian, talk show host and American Idol judge (come this January) opens up to Winfrey about actress de Rossi, 36, with whom she’s been in a relationship since 2004. “She is so beautiful and so smart and so funny,” DeGeneres gushes.

“I have that sense of ‘I’m done now.’ I’m settled,” she says. “I know that part of my life is taken care of. I’ve got love. I’ve got someone who will be with me till the day I die.”

The couple married on Aug. 16, 2008 in a small ceremony in their home; because their wedding took place before the November 2008 passage of Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage in California), a Supreme Court judgment upheld the legality of their union.

DeGeneres also talked to Winfrey about her upcoming gig alongside Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi as an American Idol judge — replacing Paula Abdul, who left the show after its eight season.

“They came to me, and it was a total surprise,” she explains. “I like to try new things because I get bored so easily. And I like the show, so I thought it was a great idea.”

The ninth season of American Idol premieres in January 2010.

[From Us Weekly]

I do love Ellen, and I’m so happy that her wildest dream came true. Even though I think the whole “I wanna be on the cover of O Magazine” thing was mostly a comedy bit, a great running gag for her show, I do think that Ellen and Oprah probably do love and respect each other. Unlike someone like Tyra Banks, who doesn’t always give Oprah her props for being there first, Ellen seems to know that to take Oprah’s media maven mantle, you first have to worship at the Church of Oprah and show respect. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Very possible.

One more thing – I do worry about Ellen and Portia. There is a significant age gap between them, and I sometimes worry that Portia wants to have babies while Ellen wants her life the way it is, with a wife and dogs and no kids. Anyway… it’s just something I worry about with them, it could be nothing.

Here’s Ellen sharing the cover of O with Oprah and out on a date with Portia on October 16th. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

American Idol has an official full time replacement for recently departed judge Paula Abdul and it’s none other than talk show hostess Ellen Degeneres. For a while there it looked like Paula might be back on Idol if she was able to reach a contract agreement with producers, but it looks like that door has now closed. Ellen made the announcement on her show yesterday to thunderous applause and screams from the studio audience. In terms of how she’ll cope with running a successful talkshow and working on a wildly popular talent show, Ellen explained “I’m going to have a day job and a night job. The times we’re livin’ in, we’re all doing that.” Fox has confirmed that Ellen will be a permanent member of the judge’s panel. I guess Kirstie Alley won’t be replacing Paula after all:

Ellen DeGeneres is taking Paula Abdul’s place as the fourth judge on American Idol.

“DeGeneres will sit alongside Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi and offer her own unique perspective to the contestants throughout the competition,” Fox television says in a statement.

DeGeneres, 51, begins her stint after the audition rounds, which have featured a rotating group of celebrity guest judges including Shania Twain, Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas and Kristin Chenoweth.

Two Jobs
“I’m going to have a day job and a night job,” DeGeneres said at her talk show taping Wednesday, assuring her audience that The Ellen DeGeneres Show will continue. “This is so exciting for me.”

Abdul abruptly announced in August, just before the start of American Idol’s ninth season, that with “sadness in my heart” she was leaving the highly rated show hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

In the taping for Thursday’s Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres said the deal had been in the works for the last couple of weeks. “I’ve been dying to tell everyone,” she says. “It’s just been so hard to keep it a secret and we just finally got the OK and I’m so excited. It is going to be so much fun.”

The People’s Voice
She said she’s been a longtime fan of the show – “I have not missed one episode” – and she plans to serve as the voice of the regular audience member.

“Hopefully I’m the people’s point of view because I’m just like you,” DeGeneres says. “I sit at home and I watch it. … I’m not looking at it in a critical way from the producer’s mind. I’m looking at it as a person who is going to buy the music and is going to relate to that person.

The next season of American Idol begins in January. In the statement released by Fox, Idol creator and executive producer Simon Fuller says, “Ellen has been a fan of the show for many years, and her love of music and understanding of the American public will bring a unique human touch to our judging panel.”

[From People]

People love Ellen Degeneres and it was a smart move to pick such a likable public figure to replace Paula. The sad thing is, Idol probably had to offer Ellen a contract worth way more than they were willing to give Paula. Is that fair or did Paula kind of run her course on the show? She has a lot of fans, but she did make some negative public statements about Idol management and she wasn’t always sober on the job. I used to be team Paula, but now that Ellen is in the mix I kind of see the wisdom of choosing someone new.

Ellen seems to have a good rapport with alpha judge Simon Cowell. TMZ points us to Cowell’s appearance on Ellen’s show last May. In an exchange about his dating life, Cowell said he wasn’t dating anyone in particular, but explained “I like girls.”

“Me too!” Ellen chimed in.

“That’s why we get on well. That’s why we like each other.” Simon quipped.

Ellen and Portia are shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 8/30/09. Credit: WENN.com

Since marrying last August, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have enjoyed nothing less than a seemingly blissful union. Portia described her life as Ellen’s wife a few months ago, talking about the contentment she felt, and even talking about how Ellen’s mom calls Portia her “daughter-in-law”. Now it’s Ellen’s turn to talk about marriage… and babies. In a new interview with AOL Television (story via People), Ellen talks up marriage, but seems to definitively rule out becoming a parent. She says that she and Portia have talked about it, and they have decided they like their life as-is, with their animals and their niece:

Don’t expect Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi to become moms anytime soon.

Although the couple told PEOPLE last August that they talk about having kids, they have decided that they are happier being cool aunts.

“I don’t think we’re going to have kids,” DeGeneres tells AOL Television. “We have animals, and we love them. And, you know, we are brand new aunts. Her brother and his wife just had a baby girl who’s a month old now, and it’s fun to be a part of that.”

After tying the knot last summer, DeGeneres told PEOPLE, “It’s something we would never take lightly and just say, ‘That would be fun.’ It’s a lot of work and we recognize that. In a way, we want to be selfish because we love our life, but we know how much that adds to it.”

DeGeneres, 51, and de Rossi, 36, who have crusading for gay marriage, have since decided to focus on their relationship rather than have children. “It’s just a huge responsibility, and I don’t know that that’s something we want to take on,” DeGeneres says. “We’re very happily married without children.”

[From People]

I totally respect Ellen or anyone else who comes right out and says that they don’t feel the need to be a parent. Cameron Diaz said something like this recently, and Sandra Bullock also spoke out about how she didn’t feel the need to have biological children. All too often, I think society subtly or not-so-subtly “punishes” women who have made the decision not to become mothers. That being said, I really wonder if Portia really feels the same way as Ellen. Portia is fifteen years younger than Ellen, and her biological clock might be on a different wavelength. I really hope Portia isn’t saying “no” to kids just because Ellen isn’t interested… but maybe I’m reading too much into it. Perhaps after Portia gave motherhood deeper consideration, she just decided she prefers the fur-babies too.

Ellen and Portia are shown out on 4/18/09. Credit: WENN.com

For us Arrested Development geeks, Portia de Rossi is a goddess. She played crazy, lovable loser Lindsay Bluth, sister to Buster, Michael and Gob of the Bluth family. Before AD, I had been “meh” about Portia, but after that show I realized how insanely talented she is – she has a real gift for comedy and slapstick. When she found personal happiness in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, I was surprised. Ellen is more than a decade older than Portia, and I didn’t want my girl to get hurt. Ellen made as honest woman out of Portia, as the couple were married last year to much fanfare.

Portia de Rossi has a new interview with People magazine in which she talks about how happy Ellen has made her, and how much marriage changed her life. It’s a really nice interview, but unfortunately she doesn’t discuss whether there will actually be an Arrested Development movie. Oh, well. Another time.

Five months after her wedding to Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi is declaring that marriage has “completely changed my life.”

“Marriage is a different way of being together,” the actress told People Friday while promoting her upcoming ABC series Better Off Ted at the Television Critics Association event in Pasadena, Calif.

Even though the couple have been together since 2004, tying the knot strengthened their bond. “There’s a peace to [being married] and a sense of togetherness that we just didn’t have before. And I didn’t even realize it would change as much as it has, but it’s so lovely,” said the actress.

“It’s legal, and it’s real, so there’s that kind of formality to it that makes it very valid,” added de Rossi. “I think the emotions that went with that as a gay woman kind of surprised me – that I would be that relieved to have my mother be present at the ceremony to bless the union, and to call [Ellen] her daughter-in-law.”

The actress said she’s also emerged as a more confident woman in recent years, both in her life and her career. “It’s so important to live an honest, open life and I didn’t really realize that until I started doing it,” she said.

De Rossi also holds out hope that other gay and lesbian couples will ultimately be able to enjoy the right to be legally married, a right that was repealed in California last fall shortly after their nuptials. “Every day of our lives is a protest against the passing of Prop 8,” she said. “We’re a happily married couple. It was kind of devastating, actually, when it passed.”

One element of their post-wedding life de Rossi isn’t looking forward to is taking the hot seat as a guest on DeGeneres’s daytime talk show, which she will “unfortunately” do to promote her new series.

“I say ‘unfortunately’ because it just seems like a very awkward kind of interview. She’ll make it flawless, and I’m excited to talk about the show,” she said. “I just hope she doesn’t ask any personal questions. That’s off limits!”

But doesn’t her spouse already know all the intimate personal details? “No, she doesn’t,” de Rossi said laughing. “That’s what I’m worried about. She could ask anything she wanted.”

From People

I tend to think that this is what the gay marriage cause needs – not simply protests, bans, campaigns, etc. The cause needs more gay couples to come forward and really talk about marriage, how getting married changed them, and how happy they are or would be married. It puts a human face on the issue, and demystifies it for many people. I think it’s really sweet that Portia likes that her mother can call Ellen her “daughter-in-law” – it’s the kind of little thing that would never occur to me.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are shown at the People’s Choice Awards on 1/7/09. Credit: PRPhotos

Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi were originally planning quite the spectacle of a wedding. Nothing crazily over the top, but certainly not the low-key affair they ended up going with. It was reported that they were planning a lavish event and their guest list was so huge, “my gardener is invited,” according to Ellen.

In the end it wound up being just 19 guests that were just close friends and family. What led to Ellen and Portia’s change of heart? Justin Timberlake. And Ryan Seacrest convincing the pair not to have him sing at their wedding. Naturally.

Ellen DeGeneres says Ryan Seacrest played a hand in keeping her August Beverly Hills wedding to Portia de Rossi “lovely and small.” Originally, Justin Timberlake was going to perform a new song he penned for the two. “That made it get bigger,” DeGeneres said Wednesday on Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show. “We said, ‘He can’t just sing for our Aunt Helen from Mississippi! We got invite some more!’”

George Michael was going to sing as well. “It just got bigger and bigger,” DeGeneres said. “It was going to be gigantic, and Ryan talked us out of it.” Explained Seacrest: “‘Are you sure you’re going to be comfortable with elephants on your grass?’ I truly believe people get carried away with the volume of the wedding that they don’t enjoy the purpose of the wedding.”

“It started from the wrong place,” DeGeneres later admitted. “We called and disinvited everyone. They totally understood.”

[From Us Weekly]

I never thought I’d say this seriously, but that was some classy advice Ryan Seacrest gave. Joshua Radin ended up playing instead. And as great a singer as Justin Timberlake is, Radin is a little more quiet and folksy, which definitely fits together nicely with their smaller wedding theme.

Whoever thought someone like Ryan Seacrest would give such down to earth advice? He’s right, even non-celebrity weddings have gotten out of control lately. When your event has gotten so big that you have elephants wandering around, it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate if that’s what you really want. If so, more power to you. But it’s nice that he was able to phrase it in a way that was sort of a question instead of just saying, “I think this is getting crazy big.” Which is exactly how Seacrest would phrase it. Now I almost hate him a little less. Almost.

Here’s Ellen and Portia on the beach in Malibu on August 31st. Images thanks to Fame.