Ellen DeGeneres is reportedly trying to stave off a divorce from Portia de Rossi by doing an about-face on Portia’s career, but the damage from Ellen’s controlling ways may already be done.
There have been widespread rumors that Ellen has been controlling in many aspects of Portia’s life, which created quite a bit of tension between the couple.
Now a new report claims that Ellen DeGeneres went so far as to dictate which acting roles Portia de Rossi could and could not take.
“Ellen has made her turn down roles she was offered,” a source told In Touch magazine in its August 11 issue. “Ellen would act as if Portia wasn’t strong enough to take them, but it had nothing to do with her helping her–it’s about control.
“Working would be the best thing for Portia.”
Ellen’s controlling ways have reportedly brought the couple to the verge of divorce in the past. Last month a source told In Touch magazine that Portia secretly taped a drunken fight with Ellen to expose how controlling she could be.
The source claimed: “Portia secretly taped some of their arguments. She was drunk. Then she threatened to expose Ellen as controlling and manipulating.”
The source went on to say that Ellen DeGeneres was furious when she found out about the secret tape and tried to check Portia’s email “sent” box to make sure she didn’t share the tape with anyone..
It was amid this tension that Portia de Rossi reportedly got back into drinking, which led to a trip to rehab in May.
“She felt like a prisoner in her own home. She went from sipping white wine occasionally to drinking at least a bottle or more a day and topping it off with a pill. It got to the point where she was out of it four nights a week. They’ve had vicious shouting matches — with both of them yelling cruel, soul-crushing put-downs that they both deeply regretted.”
But now Ellen appears to be changing that, at least publicly. Last week she tweeted a message of support after Portia de Rossi picked up a new role on Scandal.
So annoying when people brag on twitter & that’s why I’m not tweeting that Portia just signed on to do a top secret arc on “Scandal”. Oops.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) July 23, 2014
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have not addressed the latest divorce rumors publicly, but in the past have brushed off reports.