Ellen DeGeneres Pushed Portia De Rossi To Quit Acting?

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Did Ellen DeGeneres push wife Portia de Rossi to quit acting? That’s the claim in one of this week’s tabloids. Gossip Cop can set the record straight.

Earlier this month, de Rossi revealed on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that she was retiring from acting to launch the art curation and publishing company, General Public. According to OK!, however, it wasn’t the actress’s idea to leave show business.

A so-called “source” tells the magazine, “Ellen guilted Portia into giving up her career. They’ve been having issues for a while, and Ellen told her that, as the breadwinner, she needs a more supportive wife, so Portia finally caved.” The outlet’s questionable source adds, “It just goes to show how their life revolves around Ellen. But only time will tell if this Band-Aid works for them.”

From the start, this story lacks logic. De Rossi is making a career change, she’s not retiring from working. The actress-turned-businesswoman will presumably be very busy as she gets her new company off the ground. The magazine’s faulty premise is that DeGeneres wants her wife to stop acting so she’ll be around more often, but de Rossi will have her hands full with her new career.

De Rossi herself explained on her wife’s talk show why she made the decision to give up acting, “I was approaching 45… and I just kind of was wondering, ‘Is there something that I could tackle now that I’ve never done before that would be really challenging and different?'” she said. “I made this decision about 18 months ago.”

Despite quitting acting, de Rossi appears on the new season of “Arrested Development.” The actress explained at the show’s red carpet premiere earlier this month why she made an exception for the series. “I love ‘Arrested Development’ so much, and if I wasn’t a part of this season, I would be so sad,” said the actress, who went on to clarify, “Apart from ‘Arrested Development,’ I have quit acting.” If DeGeneres had truly demanded her wife’s departure from show business, it’s unlikely she would have returned for the show.

Meanwhile, DeGeneres frequently uses Instagram to promote de Rossi’s new company, so she’s clearly very supportive of her wife’s business venture, despite the magazine baselessly claiming “their life revolves around Ellen.” And considering that the talk show host goes out of her way to support de Rossi’s company, the notion that she’s demanding her wife stay home and take on the role of “supportive wife” doesn’t make sense.

Conclusion: De Rossi herself explained she decided to quit acting because she wants to explore new business opportunities as she gets older. DeGeneres supports her wife taking on a new career, despite the tabloid saying the TV host wants a stay-at-home wife. De Rossi temporarily jumped back into acting for “Arrested Development,” which means she was juggling two careers at on point. DeGeneres promoted her wife’s TV series and art company on her talk show, which means she supports her wife’s busy career. The tabloid’s article is provably untrue on every level.