Ellen Kisses and Tells
April 24, 2007 on 12:38 pm | In Celebrity, News, Oprah | No Comments
Don’t get your panties in a bunch, she’s not cheating on Portia or anything. Laura Dern was Ellen’s guest on her daytime talk show today, a reunion ten years in the making. Laura was Ellen’s costar when she came out on her sitcom in 1997, sharing that scandalous kiss. Laura said that she couldn’t get work for over a year because of that role, but that she was grateful to be part of the “extraordinary experience and opportunity” that rule breaking episode was. I recently saw an interview with Oprah Winfrey where she was on the Ellen DeGeneres show and mentioned she got more hate mail for being in Ellen’s coming out episode than she has ever gotten before or since.
I personally thought the show lost a lot of luster once the “coming out” actually happened. Before that the sitcom was original, but then it devolved into another “you don’t understand the personal choice I’ve made” show. That being said, these women went out on a limb to be brave in a time when gay was still in the closet. Looking at television today, it’s sad to think that they had to get blackballed to support a friend who wanted to let America in on the secret. If it weren’t for Ellen and her guts, a lot of gay television wouldn’t be around today.