Fri May 16, 2008 1:28pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian and talk show host Ellen
DeGeneres plans to marry her long-time partner, actress Portia de
Rossi, after a California court ruling allowing gay marriage.
"I am announcing I am getting married," DeGeneres, 50, told the
audience during the taping of her "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on
Thursday. The show was due to be broadcast on Friday.
To wild cheers and a standing ovation, DeGeneres said she was
very excited at Thursday's ruling by the California Supreme Court
overturning a state ban on gay marriage.
"Thank you. I'll tell you who the lucky guy is soon," she
joked.
DeGeneres did not mention de Rossi, 35, but pictures showed the
former "Ally McBeal" actress in the audience, smiling and
applauding.
"It is something of course that we have wanted to do and we
wanted to be legal, and we are just very, very excited," DeGeneres
said.
DeGeneres and de Rossi have been a familiar couple in Hollywood
for about four years, appearing at red carpet events together.
DeGeneres previously had a relationship with actress Anne
Heche.
DeGeneres made broadcast history in 1997 when her TV alter ego
came out of the closet on her ABC sitcom "Ellen," becoming the
first openly gay lead character on U.S. prime-time network
television.
A short time later, DeGeneres and Heche went public with their
real real-life love affair, instantly becoming America's most
prominent lesbian couple. They broke up three years later.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1645080220080516
