Ellen DeGeneres is preparing a return to the United States after more than a year in rural England, a move that people close to the couple say is driven by concerns that her 21-year marriage to Portia de Rossi is under growing strain and that the isolation meant to offer relief has instead magnified unresolved tensions.
The former daytime television host and her wife relocated to a small English village in November 2024, seeking distance from public scrutiny and a slower pace following DeGeneres' withdrawal from American television. Friends now describe that decision as increasingly burdensome, particularly as the couple struggles to adapt to a life far removed from their professional and social roots.
According to insiders, the pastoral reset that once promised privacy and calm has given way to loneliness and routine. One person familiar with the situation said the environment has become emotionally draining rather than restorative. "It sounded perfect at first," the person said. "But the reality of rainy days, isolation, and long stretches with nothing to do has been draining for both of them."
People close to the couple say the marriage itself has not been insulated from those pressures. "They're together all the time, but not really connecting," a source said. "The marriage is sputtering, and they both feel it." The constant proximity, combined with limited external engagement, has reportedly left little room to deflect long-standing issues.
Friends describe an imbalance in how each partner has coped with the move. DeGeneres has remained intensely focused on future professional plans, spending significant time on virtual meetings, business strategy sessions and long-term projects aimed at re-establishing a public presence. "She refuses to give up," one source said. "Ellen still believes she can win back audiences, but she knows that won't happen from a village in England."
Portia de Rossi, by contrast, is said to have struggled with the lack of structure and social interaction. Insiders say the cold weather, limited community engagement and distance from friends have weighed heavily on her, turning days into long periods of quiet that accentuate emotional distance rather than closeness.
Beyond entertainment, DeGeneres has also continued her involvement in U.S. real estate ventures, buying and renovating high-end properties from abroad. While physically removed from Los Angeles, those projects have kept her tethered to the American market, further limiting what friends describe as meaningful shared time with her spouse.
"There's concern they'll fall back into old patterns once they're home," another insider said. "But at least in the US, they'll be on familiar soil." People close to the couple say familiarity itself has become part of the appeal, offering routines, friendships and professional networks that England cannot replicate.
The planned return is increasingly being framed by those around them as a final effort to stabilize both the marriage and DeGeneres' next chapter. "She sees this as a reset," a source said. "America represents work, opportunity, and control but also the chance to fix what's slipping away." For now, the move is viewed less as a career calculation than as a bid to restore equilibrium to a relationship strained by isolation rather than healed by it.
