Ellen DeGeneres ‘can’t imagine having children because the world is a terrifying place’
Ellen DeGeneres says she "can’t imagine having children right now, because the world is a terrifying place".
The 58-year-old chat show host and her 43-year-old actress wife Portia de Rossi previously decided they don’t want to start a family and Ellen admitted she is glad because it’s so hard to shield children from all of the "horrible stuff" in the world.
In a Q&A with Buzzfeed UK, where she offered advice to readers, ‘Finding Dory’ star Ellen said: "I mean, you can’t shield them from everything, but I can’t imagine having children right now, because the world is a terrifying place. But that’s why it’s more important for them to be filled with kindness.
"We really are at a tipping point, where we have to have more good in the world than bad, so try to highlight people that are doing good things so your children see that there are other choices."
And despite her upbeat public persona, Ellen admitted she has struggles just like everyone else.
She said: "I have sadness in me, I have anger in me, I have heartbreak in me. I have all of the things everybody has who’s watching the news right now. It’s terrible. But what’s the alternative? You have to try to be that beacon of light, and I think that’s what we all have to do right now. I think everybody should have the same anger towards the injustice that’s happening, and the hatred that’s happening, and just fight it with love and compassion."
Ellen also revealed that she was unpopular in school and struggled to fit in but believes it helped to "build character".
She said: "I hated school. I changed schools every year and a half, so I was always the new person. I didn’t know anyone, and in every school I went to, people had all gone through all the grades together, so I was always the outsider. Clearly popularity is not that important, because I was not popular.
"School was a very bad experience for me. I know it’s isolating, I know it feels tough, but it’s a blip. You look back at school now, and that’s not what real life is, and the people that are usually popular in high school – if you ever go back to a high school reunion years later, they’re the losers. I think being an outsider really does build character. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, being a part of a giant group where everybody’s all the same."
