Ellen DeGeneres fights back tears as she talks to Oprah Winfrey about evacuating her home
The Ellen Show
Ellen DeGeneres fought back her tears as she described being forced to evacuate her family home because of “massive” mudslides.
On her show, Ellen also FaceTimed with neighbour Oprah Winfrey, who said that when she woke up on the night after the Golden Globes, “the sky seemed like it was on fire.”
Ellen emotionally told the audience that on “Sunday night, Portia and I got a call that we’re under mandatory evacuation again with most of the community of Montecito.
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“So again, we evacuated because they feared mudslides.
After everything we’ve been through I think a lot of people thought they were just being overly cautious, but exactly what they feared happened.
“The rain triggered massive mudslides. Massive.”
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She continued the emotive story while pictures of the destruction wreaked by the mudslides was shown behind her.
“I love this community. If you’ve never been there, Montecito is a small town.
“It’s less than 10,000 people, it has two public schools, family-owned businesses. It’s a tight-knit community so everyone kind of knows everyone.
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“I work in LA, but I consider Montecito my home. I live there, Oprah lives there,” she added, bravely holding it together.
“It’s not just a wealthy community, it’s filled with a lot of different types of people from all backgrounds. And there are families missing, there are people who are missing family members.
“They’re finding people and bodies and I mean, you hear the word ‘mudslide’ and you have no idea the impact that it has, but after the largest fire in California history, it’s catastrophic.
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“It is beyond recognisable.”
When she rang Oprah, the iconic TV star said that her 65-acre estate, called Promised Land, had suffered damage – but nothing compared to other homes.
“It’s devastating,” said Oprah.
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“Where I am now, which is the east side of my property, I was walking down here and all of my neighbours’ homes are gutted,” said Oprah.
“I’m standing right now still in a lot of mud but not as much as yesterday.
“I walked out back, you know, where we share a fence line and the neighbours out back they’re houses are gone. It’s as devastating as can be,” she added.
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“We’ve lost so many lives, and it’s a tiny community, and nobody would’ve expected – certainly, I did not – that after we survived the fire, the rain would come.
“Who would’ve expected we have this devastation again with the mudslides, and so soon?”
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Oprah caused a stir earlier this week when her incredible speech about race and gender at the Golden Globes left the public speculating whether a bid for President may be on the cards.
Watch Ellen and Oprah discuss the devastation here:
