Ellen DeGeneres dances in tears as the final episode of her TV show airs

Charlie Herbert

‘If this show has made you smile, if it has lifted you up then I have done my job’

Ellen DeGeneres danced through the tears as she presented the final episode of her iconic talk show.

As she finished her final monologue, the American host was understandably emotional as the curtain came down on 19 years of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

But she reassured fans that this wasn’t the last they’d see of her.

She said: “I walked out here 19 years ago and I said this was the start of a relationship and today is not the end of the relationship, but a break,”

“You can see other talk shows now, and I may see another audience once in a while” she then joked.

The host then went on to discuss the social change that has taken place since the show first aired in 2003, explaining that at first very few stations wanted to run the show because “I was different.”

She recalled: “When we started the show I wasn’t allowed to say ‘gay’. I said it at home a lot. ‘What are we having for our gay breakfast’, or ‘pass the gay salt’, ‘has anyone seen the gay remote’, things like that.

“I certainly couldn’t say ‘wife’ because gay people couldn’t get married. Now I say ‘wife’ all the time.

“21 years ago they cancelled my sitcom because they didn’t want a lesbian to be on primetime once a week. So I said ‘okay how about I’m on daytime every day?'”

DeGeneres then reflected on what she described as the “beautiful journey” the show has taken her on

“If this show has made you smile, if it has lifted you up … then I have done my job,” she said.

The 64-year-old told fans in the studio and at home that the show has “forever changed my life,” was “the greatest experience I have ever had,” and had gone “beyond [her] wildest imagination.”

Cheered on by the audience, and joined by dancer tWitch, DeGeneres then broke out her iconic dance moves for one final time, before taking her seat for the final time.

My final monologue.❤️ #EllensFinalSeason pic.twitter.com/CrnW72klYV

— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) May 26, 2022

The final episode featured a number of callbacks to the very first episode and the show as a whole.

The finale had appearances from Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish, and P!nk, three significant guests from the show’s history.

P!nk is the voice behind the show’s theme song, and Eilish made her daytime television debut on the show when she was just 16-years-old.

Aniston was the very first guest on the show back in 2003, so it was only fitting that she was also the show’s final guest.

The episode then wrapped up by coming “full circle.”

Full circle. pic.twitter.com/YyThNk9qyZ

— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) May 27, 2022

The final years of the show were caught up in controversy over allegations of a toxic work environment behind the scenes.

DeGeneres addressed these in the opening episode of the show’s 18th series in 2020, apologising to anyone who was affected and accepting responsibility for “what happens on my show.”

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