Ellen DeGeneres confirmed this week she was ending her long-running talk show after 19 seasons following a highly-publicised toxic workplace scandal.
And on Friday, Australian entertainment reporter Richard Reid sensationally said ‘it’s about time’ fans saw Ellen as a ‘bitter, uncaring control freak’ as he recalled his own encounters with the host that still ‘sends shivers down his spine’.
‘Twenty-two years [ago] I had a first-hand taste of the DeGeneres brand of terror that left half her staff cowering for cover and the other half drowning in tears,’ the 56-year-old wrote in a column for news.com.au.
Speaking out: On Friday, Australian entertainment reporter Richard Reid sensationally said ‘it’s about time’ that fans saw Ellen DeGeneres as a ‘bitter, uncaring control freak’, as he recalled his own encounters with the TV host that still ‘sends shivers down his spine’
Richard went on to say that in 1998, he had travelled to Los Angeles to interview Ellen’s then-girlfriend Anne Heche about her new movie.
The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star recalled that he dressed in his best suit and tie for the occasion, and while waiting for an elevator spotted Anne skipping around the corner in a ‘Hollywood Boho-chic’ ensemble.
After Anne commented that he looked ‘sharp’, Richard replied by saying: ‘Is that what you’re wearing?’
But after the words fell from his mouth, he claims Ellen came shooting around the corner, raging: ‘You can’t talk to my girlfriend that way. She can wear whatever she wants. Why do you even care what she’s wearing?’
Trip down memory lane: Richard went on to say that in 1998, he had travelled to Los Angeles to interview Ellen’s then-girlfriend Anne Heche (left) about her new movie. Pictured with Ellen
He claims that Ellen fumed that it was ‘none of his business’ how she dressed, before saying ‘he should be the one’ who should change.
Ellen then apparently refused to get in the same lift as Richard, while Anne mouthed an apology to him.
In 2004, Richard says he encountered Ellen for a second time while on a red carpet working for Access Hollywood.
As he attempted to interview her, Ellen looked at him and simply said: ‘You’.
She then asked who he worked for, before declining to talk to him and instead speaking to his competition at Entertainment Tonight.
‘My interactions with Ellen lasted no more than five or six minutes in total, but it was enough for me to see the true colours behind her fake persona of sweetness and still send shivers down my spine more than two decades on,’ he concluded.
Claims: Richard claims that Ellen fumed that it was ‘none of his business’ how she dressed, before saying ‘he should be the one’ who should change. Pictured: Ellen and Anne in 1999
A representative for Ellen declined to comment when approached by Daily Mail Australia.
Earlier in the week, Ellen confirmed her long-running show was coming to an end in a statement.
‘When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,’ she said, after plummeting ratings were partly blamed for the show’s ending.
However, the TV star also appeared to dismiss some of the more serious allegations she faced last year as ‘stupid’ and that she ‘didn’t deserve’ the backlash in a Wednesday interview about the news.
Not happy: ‘My interactions with Ellen lasted no more than five or six minutes in total, but it was enough for me to see the true colours behind her fake persona of sweetness and still send shivers down my spine more than two decades on,’ Richard concluded
‘When it started, with that stupid “someone couldn’t look me in the eye” or whatever the first thing was, it’s like a crest of a wave,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter.
‘Like, “This isn’t going to be that big of a wave.” And then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger until it was out of control.
‘And I really, honestly, felt like, “I don’t deserve this. I don’t need this. I know who I am. I’m a good person.” I was sitting back going, “If I was someone watching this, I would think, ‘Well, there must be some truth to it because it’s not stopping.”’
Ellen also stated in the interview that it was better she spoke now, and didn’t address this last summer ‘because I was so hurt and so angry’ over the claims.
End of an era: Ellen confirmed her long-running show was coming to an end earlier this week in a statement