They started dating in 2004 and tied the knot in August 2008.
Ellen DeGeneres is gushing over her wife, Portia de Rossi, on their 18th anniversary. The former daytime talk show host took to Instagram on Thursday to profess her love in a sweet tribute post.
The 64-year-old posted two photos of her and de Rossi, the first of which is a selfie and shows de Rossi leaning her head on DeGeneres' head. The second photo, albeit blurry, shows de Rossi smiling with her eyes closed and hugging a smiling DeGeneres.
"It's our 18 year anniversary today," DeGeneres captioned the post. "I fall in love with her more every day. I’m so grateful for her love."
Kris Jenner was among the couple's famous friends who dropped a comment and congratulated the two on their relationship milestone.
It's been an emotional year for DeGeneres and de Rossi, who began their relationship in 2004 and tied the knot in 2008. After 19 seasons, DeGeneres bid goodbye to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and de Rossi was present when DeGeneres grew emotional as she walked on set for the last time earlier this year. Friends and family were in the crowd, when DeGeneres could be seen tearing up even before she started her monologue.
DeGeneres opened the show with a look back on how both she and the world has changed since she started the show 19 years ago.
“We couldn’t say 'gay.' I couldn’t say 'we,' because that implied that I was with someone," Ellen noted. "I sure couldn’t say 'wife,' and that’s because it wasn’t legal for gay people to get married, and now I say 'wife' all the time."
In the run-up to her final show, de Rossi appeared as a guest, and recalled the touching story of how she revealed to her 99-year-old grandmother that she was in a relationship with the talk show host.
"Well, my grandma meant everything to me. We were actually born on the same day, and she was so special to me," de Rossi began. "And she was a huge fan of Ellen, she loved the sitcom -- loved her sitcom, wouldn't miss an episode, until the episode where she came out."
This was particularly troubling for de Rossi, who said she knew she was gay, even if her Australian grandmother did not.
She continued, "Now, I know I'm gay this point, and I love my gran and the moment that Ellen came out, she refused to watch the show. In fact, if a commercial for her show came on, she would change the channel and say, 'That disgusting woman.' So, that didn't bode well for me."
It wasn't until de Rossi took a trip back home when she revealed the relationship.
"I came home to see my family in Australia, and I sat by Gran's chair at her feet, and she said to me, 'Are you seeing anyone special?'" de Rossi recounted. "Now, at this point, my mom was supposed to have told Gran that I was with Ellen, and she knew that we lived together, and I said, 'Gran, I'm with Ellen,' and she said, 'Ellen? Who's Ellen?'" And I said, 'You knew that I lived with Ellen,' and she said, 'Yes, and all this time I was worried that that lesbian was hitting on my granddaughter.'"
"So, then she literally put her head in her hands for 20 seconds or 30 seconds, silent," the 49-year-old actress continued. "And I thought, 'That's it, I've killed my grandma,' she's just gonna literally -- I really thought that I did."
After a brief moment of silence, de Rossi was worried that she had devastated the 99-year-old, but the reaction she got when her grandmother finally did respond proved that her news did anything but.
"And she just looked at me, and she goes, 'Well, I love you just the same,"' de Rossi added, concluding the touching tale.
It was also on DeGeneres' eponymous talk show where she revealed that Adam Levine is the reason why she and de Rossi got together.
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