Ellen DeGeneres says she has ignored
the advice of publicists and managers in speaking out.
The 54-year-old DeGeneres' syndicated
daytime talk show enters its 10th season when it returns
on September 10. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is the
second-highest-earning syndicated series behind the final season of
Oprah Winfrey's The Oprah Winfrey Show.
DeGeneres has said that Hollywood at
first rejected her after her 1997 announcement that she is gay. She
recently told PARADE that she turned things around by convincing
producers that she was “not just gay” but “a funny woman who
happens to be gay.”
In a The
Hollywood Reporter cover story, DeGeneres said she wants to
stand for something.
“I know that every time I list
something that I am, I am potentially alienating a whole group of
people,” said DeGeneres. “Publicists and managers will encourage
you not to say what political party you belong to, what you eat, what
you don't eat, who you sleep with and all that stuff. I just think
it's dangerous. People need to have all kinds of examples and heroes
on television who stand for something.”
(Related: Oprah
Winfrey credits Ellen DeGeneres' success to coming out gay.)