Gay comedienne Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Australian actress Portia de Rossi-DeGeneres, are selling their Beverley Hills property for a cool US$60 million.

The couple bought the 1115m2 estate in 2007 for US$29 million from Max Mutchnick, co-creator of the US TV show ‘Will & Grace’.

A year later Ellen and Portia spent a further US$19 million to buy three adjacent properties. They demolished one house completely to make way for a private park. The two which remain are now used as guest houses.

The DeGeneres estate is located on its own private street. The main house has three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a swimming pool and gym. All three properties have views across the Los Angeles Basin.

DeGeneres, fifty three, and de Rossi, thirty eight, have been together since 2004. They married on August 16th 2008, the same year that gay marriages became legal in the State of California. The ceremony took place at their Beverley Hills home.

Ellen DeGeneres was born and raised in Metairie, Louisiana, the daughter of a speech therapist and an insurance agent. She has a brother, Vance DeGeneres, who is a musician and producer.

DeGeneres began her career performing at comedy clubs during the 1970s. By the 1980s her stand-up show had gained such popularity that she took it on tour throughout the United States. And in 1982 she was named as Showtime’s Funniest Person in America.

DeGeneres’ stand-up material became the basis of her popular sitcom ‘Ellen’. The show was produced by ABC and aired from 1994 to 1998.

Its popularity reached a peak in 1997 when Ellen publically announced her homosexuality on The Oprah Winfrey Show. As her TV character involved playing herself, she then ‘came out’ in an episode of ‘Ellen’. However, declining ratings led to the show being cancelled in 1998.

Her character ‘Ellen’ was revived in a 2001 series titled ‘The Ellen Show’ which ran for eighteen episodes.

In 2003 DeGeneres was given the chance to host her own live chat show on CBS called ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’. The show is still running today.

She has also appeared as a judge on season nine of Simon Cowell’s American Idol in 2010.

Ellen DeGeneres has won a total of eleven Daytime Emmy Awards and eleven People’s Choice Awards for her work on ‘Ellen’ and later ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’. She also won the Kid’s Choice Award for favourite female voice in the animated movie ‘Finding Nemo’.

Ellen’s wife Portia de Rossi played Nelly Porter in the US legal comedy drama ‘Ally McBeal’. She also starred as Lindsay Bluth Funke in the Emmy Award winning US TV series ‘Arrested Development’.

De Rossi is due to bring back her role as Bluth Funke for a movie adaptation of the show next year.

Rebecca Smith

Ocean Villas Group - http://www.oceanvillasgroup.com

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