Ellen DeGeneres’ latest comedy special, For Your Approval, dropped on Netflix on Tuesday, marking her latest foray into public life as a celebrity.
The 66-year-old actor revealed during a stand-up performance in July that: “After my Netflix special, I was done.”
The special comes just over two years after her show Ellen went off the air, and four years after the show was accused of being quite toxic and she was labeled “mean.”
The comedian insists in the special that she is “proud” of who she has become after the scandal.
“When you’re a public figure, you’re open to everyone’s interpretation. And I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘What other people think of me is none of my business,'” Ellen said.
Ellen DeGeneres’ latest comedy special, For Your Approval, dropped on Netflix on Tuesday, marking her latest foray into public life as a celebrity.
The comedian insists in the special that she is “proud” of who she has become after the scandal.
“People say all kinds of things and you have no control over that. But you know the truth and that’s all that matters,” he added.
DeGeneres admitted that throughout her career she was forced to “worry about what people think” as a way of measuring her success.
“If they like you, you’re in, and if they don’t, you’re out. I’ve spent my whole life trying to make people happy and I’ve cared too much about what other people think of me,” she said.
“The idea that someone would think I was bad devastated me and consumed me for a long time. After a lifetime of caring about others, I can’t take it anymore, so I don’t do it,” she said.
“But if I’m honest… and I have the choice of people remembering me as someone who was bad or someone who was loved. Loved? Loved? Loved. Someone who is loved? I choose that,” she said.
He added that he has gained “perspective” with age and now that he is retiring, “Happy not to be a boss or a brand or a billboard, just a person.’
“I became a one-dimensional character who gave away things and danced up the stairs. Do you know how hard it is to dance up the stairs? Would a bad person dance up the stairs?” she said.
He ended each episode by saying, “Be nice to each other,” joking in the special, “If I had ended my show by saying, ‘Fuck you,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised,” referring to the toxic workplace and “bad” accusations.
“Because people say all kinds of things and you have no control over that. But you know the truth and that’s all that matters,” he added.
DeGeneres admitted that throughout her career she was forced to “worry about what people think” as a way of measuring her success.
“If they like you, you’re in, and if they don’t, you’re out. And I’ve spent my whole life trying to make people happy and I’ve cared too much about what other people think of me,” she said.
She added that she has gained “perspective” with age and now that she is retiring she is “happy to not be a boss or a brand or a billboard, just a person.”
“In the end they’re going to kick me out for the third time because I’m bad, old and gay,” she joked.
He also mocked some of the allegations, revealing that he started a game of tag with his staff in 2016.
“I started playing tag in 2016. I would chase (employees) around the studio, scaring them because I loved doing it,” he admitted.
“You know, hearing me say this out loud… I was going after my employees and terrorizing them… I can see how that could be misinterpreted,” he said.