Ellen DeGeneres Show

Ellen DeGeneres just expanded her real estate portfolio ... scooping up a home in Beverly Hills.

Our real estate sources tell us the talk show host dropped a cool $8.5 million for the 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom home.

The place is 4,614 square feet and it looks like a fixer-upper. Real talk ... the home looks dated. It was built way back in 1961 and has been through at least one renovation.

Ellen closed escrow on the place Friday. It's got a pool, fire pit, chef's kitchen and lush gardens. Some of the rooms are even heated by furnaces.

She'll have some famous neighbors ... among them, Adele and Cameron Diaz.

It's the second home purchase in as many months for Ellen ... as we reported, she threw down $2.9 million back in June for a 2-bedroom pad in Santa Barbara.

Ellen's pretty familiar with Bev Hills real estate ... she recently sold a 2-story monster of a property she bought from Adam Levine.

Ellen DeGeneres is never one to spare any expense for glitzy properties ... which makes this $2.9 million buy all that more interesting.

The talk show host just copped this modest yet modern Santa Barbara bungalow ... a stone's throw from the coveted Montecito Butterfly Beach and the famous Biltmore Hotel.

It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom contemporary jewel with huge glass doors that open up to lush landscaping. There's a cool water feature and fire pit on the sun-drenched patios.

There's also enough room for a pool or even a guest house. Either way ... privacy reigns thanks to fortification in the form of noise-reducing acoustic fencing.

The single-level home was built in 1954 and it's gone through several renovations. It's probable Ellen's buying this as an investment property.

The search for Ellen's successor didn't take long, and doesn't come as much of a surprise ... "The Kelly Clarkson Show" will take over the slot currently held by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" after her 19th season concludes.

NBC made the announcement that Clarkson's show -- currently in its second season and airing in all of the network's markets -- is expected to replace Ellen's by Fall 2022.

As we first told you ... Kelly had been penciled in as the front-runner for Ellen's coveted, syndicated hour of television pretty much since her talk show launched in Fall 2019.

The show debuted to huge ratings, and with NBC honchos predicting DeGeneres would pull the plug on her show eventually ... Clarkson seemed like the perfect successor.

Problem is, Kelly's show's ratings dipped big time during the pandemic -- as did a lot of other daytime programs -- so there was some uncertainty if NBC would still go with her, or opt for someone new ... like, perhaps, Tiffany Haddish.

Clearly, the network wanted to eliminate all doubt by crowning Kelly.

The clock is now ticking for NBC to choose the successor to Ellen DeGeneres' coveted time slot, and although they have a star in their pocket, a lot has to go right to make it work.

Sources at the network tell us -- long before COVID -- NBC honchos launched the Kelly Clarkson Show as the heir apparent to Ellen's syndicated hour. They knew back then Ellen was probably going to pull the plug on the show, and Kelly seemed like a likely successor.

The thing is ... Kelly's show struggled during COVID. Producing the show with guests joining remotely was challenging and the ratings slumped -- but that was the case with most shows through the pandemic. We're told a lot depends on the next few months ... whether the show experiences a surge in popularity as production comes back full force.

If that doesn't happen, NBC may well look beyond its current lineup to find a replacement, and a name that's been bandied about is one Tiffany Haddish. There are many reasons why Tiffany's name has bubbled up to the surface ... one of which is that she has guest-hosted for Ellen with considerable success.

The fact is ... Tiffany would probably kill in the timeslot, but we did some checking and no one in her camp is willing to say if she would even entertain the idea of doing a Monday-thru-Friday talk show, which is a real grind.

If she were interested, given the unbelievable number of projects Tiffany has, it would take the contents of a bank vault to seal the deal.

Ellen DeGeneres denies speculation she's stepping away from her show after 19 seasons because of allegations of a toxic workplace ... and she even suggests there was a coordinated effort to take her down.

Ellen sat down with "Today" host Savannah Guthrie to address last year's claims of a toxic culture at her talk show -- which led to the firings of 3 producers -- saying she was devastated by it and still doesn't understand it.

She tells Savannah it's not the reason she's calling it quits after this season though, and says she's a kind person who enjoys making people happy ... and insists she truly didn't know anything about a harmful work environment until she heard it from the media.

In fact, Ellen goes as far as to imply the allegations against her were "too orchestrated" and "too coordinated" ... and doesn't really buy into the notion she should have known there was something wrong among her employees.

She does say she wishes someone would have clued her in though ... so she could have put a stop to it sooner.

As we reported ... Ellen delivered an emotional monologue to her audience Wednesday, saying instincts told her it's time to go, and she always knew in her heart the upcoming 19th season would be her last.

Ellen DeGeneres says she knew deep down it was time to step away from her talk show after 19 seasons on the air ... and she's thankful for one helluva ride.

Ellen got emotional Wednesday as she taped the Thursday episode of her talk show, talking about her big news -- that she's wrapping it up in 2022 -- and explaining, for the first time, what led to her decision.

She said she always knew in her heart the upcoming 19th season would be her last, and she's trusting her instincts as she prepares to walk away. Ellen got a little emotional during the monologue, but, of course, kept it funny too.

Ellen says 19 is a good number to go out on ... pointing out the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, and making a joke about the periodic table and conversations with herself and her wife, Portia de Rossi.

As a comedian, Ellen says she's always understood the importance of timing ... and the timing is right for her to end what she calls an "amazing chapter" in her life.

She'll get to discuss it even more with Thursday's guests ... Oprah and Pink.

Ellen DeGeneres is about to hit the end of the road with her talk show -- the upcoming 19th season will be her last, TMZ has confirmed.

Production sources tell TMZ ... Ellen will make the announcement during a Wednesday taping. We're told when Ellen renewed her contract through 2022, she felt that would be the right time to end it, and it wasn't a secret to people close to her that she was walking away.

We're told Ellen's plans are NOT to retire. She'll take some time off to decide what's next. She recently signed a multi-year deal with Discovery ... on top of shows on NBC ('Game of Games,' 'Family Game Fight'), FOX ('Masked Singer') and HBO ('Ellen's Next Great Designer' and the upcoming Tig Notaro animated comedy special).

As for what her final season will entail ... we're told it'll be a huge celebration with tons of surprise guests. We're told Ellen's excited and looking forward to going out with a bang and focusing on ending the show on a strong note.

Ellen's planning to sit down with Oprah on May 13 to talk about the show's end.

As for why she's ending the show ... the comedian told The Hollywood Reporter, "When you're a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged -- and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it's just not a challenge anymore."

The news was not an abrupt decision. Ending the show had weighed on Ellen's mind since at least 2018. She told The New York Times her wife, Portia de Rossi, had implored her to call it a day. Ellen eventually signed on for 3 more seasons.

The show, which debuted in fall 2003, was philanthropic too -- reportedly making nearly $70 million in charitable donations and sinking more than $300 million into audience giveaways.

During her talk show run, Ellen earned the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 ... and Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

In 2019, former employees accused her of fostering a toxic work environment. In the wake of those allegations ... 3 of the show's executive producers were fired.

Ellen apologized to open her show last season saying, "I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that vey seriously. And, I want to say that I am so sorry to the people who were affected."

She added, "I know that I am in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility. I take responsibility for what happens at my show."

Ellen DeGeneres has tested positive for coronavirus, but says, so far, she feels okay ... but she wants to give everyone she's been in close contact with a heads up.

The talk show host revealed her diagnosis Thursday morning and says she's following all the proper CDC guidelines. It sounds like she's going to be taking a break from work, because she adds ... "I'll see you again after the holidays. Please stay healthy and safe."

As for the guests she's had in studio in the last week -- Justin Bieber, Bryan Cranston, Diane Keaton, Alison Brie and Lil Nas X.

It's been a rough stretch for Ellen the past several months. We broke the story ... her Montecito mansion with Portia de Rossi was burglarized in July, which led to a serious security upgrade at the home.

Around the same time ... several ex-employees of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" alleged a toxic work environment, for which she later apologized.

Ellen DeGeneres says there's a pretty good reason she was hanging with George W. Bush at the Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday ... they're friends -- and she's damn proud of it!

Cameras captured Ellen and Dubya laughing together in Jerry Jones' owner's box at AT&T Stadium ... leaving some people wondering why "a gay Hollywood liberal [is] sitting next to a conservative Republican president?"

Ellen says she took a lot of heat on social media from people who were angry over the affiliation ... so she took to her show on Monday to explain herself.

"Here's the thing. I'm friends with George Bush," Ellen said.

"In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs that I have. We're all different. And, I think that we've forgotten that that's okay that we're all different."

Ellen DeGeneres' mom is responding to her daughter speaking out about being sexually assaulted by her stepfather as a teen ... saying she feels great sorrow.

As we reported ... Ellen revealed on David Letterman's Netflix show she was molested when she was 15 or 16 by a "very bad man" her mother, Betty DeGeneres, had married.

Betty's now revealing her own misgivings about the devastating incident. She told NBC's "Today" ... "I love my daughter, and I wish I had the capacity to listen to her when she told me what happened."

She added ... "I live with that regret, and I wouldn't want that for any other parent. If someone in your life has the courage to speak out, please believe them."

Would you pay more than $2,000 for Julian Edelman's discarded beard shavings?!?

That's the going rate for the NFL star's recently shorn facial follicles -- which Ellen DeGeneres famously shaved off earlier this month after the Patriots won the Super Bowl.

Ellen collected the trimmings off the floor of her show and donated them to CharityBuzz -- which is now hosting an online auction with the proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.

The opening bid was $1,000 ... but that was quickly surpassed and as of the time of this post, the leading bidder has offered up $2,100!!!!!

Think it's gross to buy someone's used beard?? Maybe ... but Edelman's face fuzz was a piece of Patriots history.

The WR rocked the scruff during his Super Bowl MVP performance in New England's SIXTH Lombardi Trophy-winning game.

Besides the cash raised from the auction, both Julian and Ellen donated $10,000 each to the Boys & Girls Clubs ... so, props to them!!!

The bigger issue ... what does the winning bidder do with the beard? Display them? Throw them away? Clone Edelman?

Kendall Jenner and Ben Simmons took advantage of the NBA star's off day ... to spend some time all over each other on a romantic dinner date.

Bendall hit up Cipriani in New York City Thursday night. She was fully embracing him and kissing her boo's face as they snuggled up in a corner table.

As you know ... Kendall's been spending a lot of time with Ben lately, and even sat courtside with his mom at one of his Sixers games last month. They've been dating on and off since last May, or as Kendall put it to Ellen ... they've been official "for a bit now."

THE PLAYOFF BEARD IS GONE!!!

Julian Edelman parted with his legendary playoff face warmer this week -- and the person wielding the shears was none other than Ellen DeGeneres!

The New England Patriots superstar grabbed the Vince Lombardi Trophy and dropped by Ellen's show to talk about being named the MVP of the Super Bowl ... when things got a little hairy.

Ellen revealed a pop-up barbershop on her set, sat Jules in the chair and got her trim on ... and she actually did a pretty good job!

Edelman had been growing out the face fuzz as a thing pro athletes do in the playoffs -- and if you know anything about pro athletes, they're VERY into superstition.

In Edelman's case ... it worked (it also helped that his QB is Tom Brady).

Oh, also ... turns out Edelman's pretty good looking under all those whiskers.

The man responsible for spinning tunes on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' tells us Ellen has more than earned the right to walk away from her TV commitments if she wants ... but he's confident she wouldn't stay off the air forever.

We got tWitch Friday afternoon at LAX and asked about his boss' decision to possibly step away from her daytime talk show when her contract runs out in 2020 ... and tWitch rattles off all the good things Ellen's done for the world and says that's justification for her to retire whenever she pleases.

tWitch and Ellen have gotten close over the years ... remember, since 2014 he's been setting the vibe on 'Ellen' and pumping up the crowd, plus he's her featured sidekick on "Ellen's Game of Games."

Does Gisele want the G.O.A.T. to officially head out to pasture??

Sure seems like it ... 'cause Tom Brady's wife appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday and dropped a major hint that she's been trying to get the QB to hang up the spikes.

Ellen asked the legendary supermodel straight-up if her husband was planning on retirement ... and Gisele said, "You should talk with him about that. I haven't been very successful."

Ellen followed up with the obvious next question -- "Do you want him to retire?!?"

"I want him to do whatever makes him happy," Gisele said.

Sooo ... yes???

It would make sense ... Tom has made an effort to spend MUCH more off-season time with Gisele and the fam ... even saying recently he wouldn't host "Saturday Night Live" so he could be with them.

Of course, Brady is 41 now ... so the end of the road is coming, regardless -- but sure seems Gisele is trying to expedite that process.

Kanye West is making a gigantic contribution toward relief for the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to battle the California wildfires.

Audience sources tell us Kim Kardashian will appear on 'Ellen' Wednesday and drop a massive surprise c/o her hubby. We're told during the show, Kim and Ellen shift their focus from Kim's new Glam Bible -- from her cosmetics company -- to the devastation of the wildfires.

Our sources say Kim revealed she and Kanye had a serious discussion on how they could ease the burden on those tasked with battling the inferno, and Kanye put an immediate plan into action.

We're told Kim tells Ellen that Kanye went to adidas and his Yeezy brand to drum up relief funds, and they were quick to raise $500,000.

During Wednesday's episode of 'Ellen' ... Kim will present a $200,000 check to the California Community Foundation's Wildfire Relief Fund and a $200,000 check to the California Fire Foundation.

On top of that ... we're told she'll present a $100k check to a firefighter and his wife who are also on 'Ellen' Wednesday. Michael Williams lost his own home, but continued to battle the fires and saved many of his neighbors' homes.

Grab your tissues.