It was love at first sight for Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi: Check out their love story

Today, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are perhaps the most celebrated same-sex couple in Hollywood. The Emmy-winning host and the actress have been together for more than a decade now and they are one of the most beloved couples. The powerful duo is one of the most prominent couples of Hollywood to get married after the Supreme Court ruled that ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. But how did they get there? 

Well, it took 20 years to get where they are now. That’s right, the well-known couple’s romance spans two decades, beginning in the year 2000. They officially met each other at a social gathering in the same year where de Rossi fell in love with DeGeneres, the first time she laid her eyes on her, she told Oprah in an interview. 

Here is how Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi fell in love. 

Love At First Sight 

During the first interview as a married couple in 2009 with Oprah Winfrey, de Rossi said that it was love at first sight for her. “(I knew Ellen was the one for me) when I laid eyes on her, but it took me three years to actually tell her how I felt about her because I was not living as an openly gay person. I was closeted and very, very afraid that if I talked about being gay, it would be the end of my career.” 

A couple of years later, when de Rossi met DeGeneres at a photo shoot and realized the extent of her feelings. “I just walked over the say hello to her, and I couldn’t believe it, but she turned around and it was like an arrow was shot through my heart. I felt weak at the knees and I was overwhelmed with how I felt,” de Rossi recalled. “But then it took me about 10 months to get the courage up to actually do anything about it.” 

After 4 years of hiding their feelings and not confessing, the pair met again at VH1’s Big ’04 Awards and started dating shortly thereafter, according to Insider. 

The Official Announcement 

DeGeneres and de Rossi made their first official appearance at the HBO Golden Globe Awards Party in 2005. Later that year, de Rossi in an interview with The Advocate revealed what it's like to be a gay woman in Hollywood. “Believe me, I had a very, very long and difficult struggle with my sexuality,” she said. “I didn’t choose the fact that I was gay, but I did choose whether to live my life as a gay woman – that was the terrifying thing for me. Especially being a gay actress.” 

It was reported that the couple moved in a two-bedroom house together in LA the same year. Later that year, The Ellen Show host told People’s magazine, “It’s the first time that I’ve known in every cell of my being that I’m with somebody for the rest of my life.” 

The Wedding 

On August 16, 2008, the couple tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony after the Supreme Court of California made it possible for gay couples to get married. It was only months ago that DeGeneres popped the question. 

In 2010, de Rossi legally changed her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres, according to Insider. However, she still used her maiden name for work purposes. 

The Divorce Rumors 

Reports that there were marital issues between the couple surfaced in 2013 but DeGeneres denied them. She told People’s magazine that there was no truth to the rumours and they are happily married. 

In 2018, the couple celebrated their 10-wedding anniversary with DeGeneres posting a lovely video on Instagram from their wedding. Earlier the same year, Portia gifted Ellen a gorilla sanctuary to honour her wife and her hero, a famous primatologist, Dian Fossey. 

Both women share cute pictures of their life and travels on social media and don’t shy away from showing appreciation to each other. 

“We’re just really good friends and we talk about everything and we never ever, ever lie to each other, like, not even the tiniest lies,” said de Rossi in an interview with ET. “And she’s the only person I want to hang out with. Like she is my best friend and I just want to be with her all the time.” We guess that is the secret to their wonderful and successful marriage.  

ALSO READ: From Colleagues to Crazy in love: Here's how sparks flew between Beyonce and Jay Z