Ellen DeGeneres reflects on 'scary time' after her coming-out show (2024)

It's been 20 years since Ellen DeGeneres stunned the world with her decision to 'come out' as gay on an episode of her hit television sitcom.

But for the comedienne and chat show host, the scary part wasn't just revealing her sexuality publicly; it was also the reaction that followed.

'I had no idea the amount of hate. I had no idea that there would be death threats or a bomb scare. It was a really scary time,' she told the AP.

Ellen acknowledged that she knew she was risking her career in making the public declaration, that network ABC initially tried to dissuade her from doing.

But after The Puppy Episode aired on April 30, 1997, she says her co-star Laura Dern and guest star Oprah Winfrey who played her therapist on the episode, were also targeted.

'Laura Dern was punished for it just because she played my love interest in that show is crazy. I mean, she's a brilliant actress, she's heterosexual and yet she was punished,' Ellen said. 'And Oprah got hate mail just for being a part of it.'

She went on: 'Obviously, that's why a lot of people don't come out, because there's a very loud and clear message ... that a lot of people don't understand it (being gay), and because they don't understand it they fear, and because they fear it they hate it.'

Ellen also went on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about being gay before the episode aired, and on Friday she will sit down once again for a chat with the talk show titan.

'This was before Facebook so if you wanted to announce something, it was the only way; you had to get a sitcom,' Ellen joked in a sneak peek of Friday's show.

'It was called the Puppy Episode' because we wanted to keep it a secret until it aired,' she recalled. 'And because 'Ellen Throws Her Career Away' seemed too on-the-nose.'

However, the real reason for the episode's title was the reaction of Michael Eisner, who at the time was the CERO of the Walt Disney Co., the parent of ABC.

When told what she wanted to do, he responded: 'Get her a puppy — she's not coming out.'

Rejoining her two decades later, Oprah told her: 'Your whole calling is about you being who you were meant to be. You would not be who you are ... had you not had the courage. And 20 years ago, you had no idea it would put you in this seat.'

The duo were also joined by Laura Dern, to whom Ellen first uttered the words 'I'm gay' in thesitcom.

'Saying I'm gay — gay people, just for you straight people out there, don't just go around saying I'm gay, because you don't need to for the people that know you're gay, so no-one one says it — for those words to come out of my mouth for the very first time, even rehearsing it, I would burst into tears every single time,' Ellen remembered.

'Of all the things I feel privileged to experience in my life, as a human but also as an actor, there's no greater gift than being the person that was with you and looking in your eyes as you said those words,' Dern replied.

'Watching you have this catharsis or ritual and having the audience support and us sort of holding - literally holding - each other up through this very emotional moment it was so profound and I feel so blessed that I got to be there and witnessed that.'

The episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show airs on Friday.