Tragic Details About Ellen DeGeneres

In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry when she came out as lesbian in a Time cover story. At the time, she was starring on the ABC sitcom, Ellen, and her character likewise came out. With The New York Times reporting that some advertisers became squeamish about seemingly endorsing homosexuality, pulling commercial spots from her show, the series was ultimately cancelled in 1998. 

This was a dark time for DeGeneres, who told Out magazine in 2016 that she "wasn't sure if [she] was going to work again," admitting, "I was at rock bottom and out of money, with no work in sight." Of the subsequent coming out backlash and cancellation, the comedian revealed on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast (via Today), "It hurt my feelings ... I was really depressed ... I was looked at as a failure in this business. No one would touch me. I had no agent, no possibility of a job, I had nothing."

Ultimately, DeGeneres' confidence had been shaken, as she explained to USA Today, "Whenever you carry shame around, you just can't possibly be a confident person." It wasn't until she realized she had nothing to be ashamed about that she regained her confidence, saying, "Depression eats away at your confidence and you get lost in that."

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