Ellen's Emotional Breakdown

Ellen DeGeneres: Click to watchIt's a different side of Ellen DeGeneres, shedding tears on national television.

The usually upbeat host gets emotional on Monday's episode of her talk show when talking to a hypnotist about her addiction to smoking cigarettes. After being asked by hypnotist Paul McKenna to think of four times she wanted to quit smoking, envisioning them clearly in her mind, he then asks her to then think of lighting up again and DeGeneres begins to cry.

McKenna explains the exercise, "Your brain's like a computer, what we're gonna do is reprogram it so that smoking doesn't mean the same thing again."

It appears the trick was a success, with Ellen exclaiming three days later, "I feel so good. I feel healthier! It seems ridiculous but my skin looks better, I just feel like, I feel healthy. I feel really good."

Paul McKenna's skills aren't just for top-rated talk show hosts either. If you'd like him to help solve one of your problems, click here.



Tags: Ellen DeGeneres, EllenDegeneres

Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 3) | 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. where's the link to Paul McKenna??

Posted at 6:22PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Bea

2. Well that sounds good. However I don't think 3 days is a good indicator that she will be able to quit. Let's see if she wants a cigerette in a week. Those cancer sticks are the most addictive , toxic and discusting things you can insert into your mouth. They make marijuna look like vitamens in comparison.

Just hearing from people I know who have tried to quit, it's the struggle of a lifetime. I wish her lots of luck ,,,,,,,,, she is going to need it. The goverment should have made those illegal a long time ago. Too bad they love the tax $$ they get from the sales MORE than saving people's life. What a sick racket. The cigerette companies should be ashamed of themselves.

Posted at 1:54PM on Oct 15th 2006 by the wise old owl

3. Hey Ellen:
I got a cigarette you can smoke, it's hanging right here!

Posted at 1:54PM on Oct 15th 2006 by "Big" Richard William Johnson ("Dick Willie" to U!)

4. Congratulations Ellen,

I have been trying to quit smoking for about the last 30 years..Now that I am 63 I have been told that after a bypass for the carotid arteries and 2 stints that smoking will be the end for me. I have honestly tried but that habit is still with me. Now that you have made the effort, I am going to try again.. I would like to watch my first grandcild get to 10 years old(at least) and enjoy what will be my future.

Thanks again.

Posted at 2:26PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Sharon Guinn

5. Ellen, I believe that if you really want to quit, this method will work for you. I used hypnosis to quit smoking over 26 years ago and am still a nonsmoker. I had one lapse after about two years and took a puff of a cigarette. I coughed so much that I didn't ever try one again. Now I just feel sorry for other smokers, as the hypnotist suggested I would. I wish you success.

Posted at 2:49PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Joan In NJ

6. i think its really cool that ellen has tried to quit smoking again. i have a mother who has tried to quit serval times so i think i know how hard it is to quit. i hope so she can make it.

Posted at 2:57PM on Oct 15th 2006 by jennifer whitson

7. I have 8 sisters 3 still smoke,i wish you the very best trying to quit! My sister jeanne made up her mind one day 10years ago,2 packs a day and never picked up another one.YOU WILL MAKE IT!!!

Posted at 3:04PM on Oct 15th 2006 by velma beery

8. i have a comment for several of the celebrities:
lindsay lohan: i am sick of seeing her in every magazine i pick up. her and paris hilton ought to be sent to a desert island and left there without a man and thousands of changes of clothes that ought to drive them NUTS.
angelina jolie: please leave the woman alone. yes she broke up brad and jen but how many of you women out there have lusted after another man and not had the guts to go after him. she is trying to raise a family and do some good for the poor oppressed people of this world. can all you stone throwers say the same?
i say god bless you angelina and brad and kiss those beautiful babies for me.

Posted at 3:04PM on Oct 15th 2006 by judy windholz

9. Hi! Just a line to let you know that secondary smoke gave me brain cancer which was removed in 1993. Following this was 33 radiation treatments; one in right side of my head and then1 in top of my head. Starting while I was in hospital after brain surgery they gave me steroids and then I had steroids while taking the radiation treatments. The steroids caused me to have osteoporosis in which I didn't know I had until I fell down my back doorsteps (fairly recently) and fractured my left shoulder. I was laying there on the dirt and rocks on my stomach and no one was around for me to get help...(I didn't know I couldn't yell when I'm scared or just trying to call out for help) My voice just disappeared...FINALLY !! My maillady came by and she barely heard me with the lawn mowing crew going on across the street. Well, 8 days later I fell inside and broke my left hip and had to have a plate and 4 screws put in. Now that was a bad experience, and another story.

Getting back to the subject; my father rolled Prince Albert cigarettes from the time I was born until I married my 1st husband who smoked Camel cigarettes,,,then when I was working closely with my supervisor in a closed in area (Food Stamp office) it looked like she just tried to see how much smoke would come out of that old long brown cigarette and right in my face. I put up with that several years until I transferred to this town. At any rate I am a living example as to what secondary smoke did for me. I have a sister who recently died of lymphomia who chain smoked. My mother died of neck cancer due to secondary smoke.(Squamous Cell Carcinoma). I wish the government would do away with smoking entirely because it is a definite cause of cancer. Sorry I talked too long, I jjust get carried away on this subject. Incidently I am 59 years old. I hope Ellen will be able to quit smoking soon. My sister that died smoked the very last day she was able to get out of bed before her death. My 1st husband is in the later stages of leukemia. His bone cancer has caused his hip to break and etc. Incidently, my father died a few years ago with blood poisoning, he had to have surgery on his stomach but never got out of the hospital. If he had not smoked he probably would never have gotten sick. He was a hard worker and a tough old man. Gotta Love Him!!!

Posted at 4:36PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Jinnie Calhoun

10. Way to go, My dad did the same thing and has not smoked for 20 years now. thanks for cleaning up the air....

Posted at 3:28PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Debby

11. Ellen, my partner and myself quit together 12 years ago, cold turkey and we are still non smokers. You will feel so much better and your food will taste more like it should. Congratulations keep up the good work!!

Posted at 3:32PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Lisa Ferson-Zavala

12. Are you kidding me...............she's a whack-a-do and has no business even being TV.................has anyone ever seen her try to dance, whoa! Wish her 15 minutes of fame were up?

Posted at 3:38PM on Oct 15th 2006 by Mr. Eddie

13. hey ellen try smoking a pole. it doesnt cause cancer!

Posted at 3:49PM on Oct 15th 2006 by antisocialfuc

14. I figure one year would be proof, but good luck to her.

What makes #1 think that banning cigarettes would work any better, it did with alcohol, and drugs.

I would rather have the 5 billion dollars, to defray some of the cost of the medical treatment for these suicidal lunatics.

Virtually everyone I know has quit smoking, and frankly I have little sympathy for smokers. in this day and age.

Posted at 2:05AM on Oct 21st 2006 by Brian A. White

15. When did Mr. Eddie get his 15 minutes of fame? Must have been raising & donating so much money, just like Ellen, his t.v. show isn't on the air yet. Oh, I think it is going to be on the FULL OF HOT AIR STATION.

Posted at 4:30PM on Oct 15th 2006 by canna

| 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments