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Ellen DeGeneres scores top marks for her Netflix special ‘Relatable’

By Nina Steele 

Ellen DeGeneresThe last time Ellen DeGeneres did stand up was back in 2003. 15 years later, she is at the top of her game and hugely successful. So no surprise then that she opens her 2018 Netflix special entitled Relatable, by telling the audience that one of her friends was not impressed when she first told him about the show. He thought that with the huge success she’s had since, without mentioning her huge wealth, which Forbes put at around $275 million, she may no longer be relatable. Of course she disagrees. On a more personal level, Ellen who is happily childfree, has never shied away from saying so, including during this show.

One of the highest points for me watching the show, was when she recounted the hell she went through when she came out. Of that she said: “I lost my sitcom when I came out”. She goes on to say: “my worst fears came true. That’s why people stay closeted. The same people who loved me, overnight hated me. Just because they knew I was gay. I went through a depression, and people made fun of me. It took me 3 years to get back on television”. The rest of course is history. Her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, now in its 16th season, is one of the most successful shows on TV.

Another high point for me was her reference to spirituality. She argues toward the end of the show that we are all on a unique path and that “nobody should be on anybody else’s path”. I believe that too and presumably, so did the audience, because they cheered when she said it. I suppose it’s a truth most of us can relate to, particularly looking back at our younger years, when we were still trying to figure out who we were, and what we wanted from life.

In spite of her fame and wealth, I think Ellen is still relatable. From a childfree perspective alone, the fact that she never shies away from telling people what she thinks of society’s obsession with babies, is something I too, and many other childfree people can relate to. Usually, because of the sensitive nature of this subject, many celebrities try to play it safe. But not Ellen. And that honesty, instead of putting people off, has contributed to her appeal. And nowhere was this more apparent than during the Q&A session that followed straight after the show. One of the people chosen to ask a question was a heavily pregnant woman, and Ellen’s answer was as straightforward as you would expect.

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