Ellen DeGeneres

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"A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people. A hero to me is someone who saves people and who really deeply cares."(Debi Mazar)

I strongly believe that this quote describes my hero, Ellen DeGeneres, because she does everything she can to make her community a better place. "Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the daughter of an insurance salesman and a working mother who were divorced when DeGeneres was a teenager. When she was growing up she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but she gave up the idea because she was "not book smart." Instead, she waited tables, sold vacuum cleaners, painted houses, worked as a legal secretary"(Ellen DeGeneres Biography). Portia de Rossi, Ellen's wife, married as a gay couple not even caring what anybody else thought or said about them. This impacted Ellen's life by making her a courageous hero who proved to kids and even adults that nobody could ever tell them what was and wasn't "normal" to society. (Thomson) This all happened at her house in LA on August 16, 2008. Her wife Portia de Rossi was a huge impact on Ellen's incredible life because she was who Ellen has chosen for her to be her soul mate, and not caring for one second what other people think about her.

Many fans and viewers of Ellen's show can agree that she is one courageous lady because of all the little things she does that completes the big picture of things. A way she first showed her courageousness was, "In 1997, during an episode of her highly acclaimed television sitcom Ellen, DeGeneres made her homosexuality public" (Heroes).  Homosexuality in 1997 was not generally accepted in the United States and it took courage for Ellen to say she was homosexual. Today it still takes courage for a person to speak out on their differences. "Since that time she has become a tireless advocate of gay rights. She has strongly condemned the recent trend of teenage boys committing suicide after being bullied about their sexual orientation. (She says) this needs to be a wakeup call to everyone that teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death rate is climbing. We have an obligation to change this" (Heroes). Ellen is not only courageous exposing her homosexuality but also taking her time and going out of her way to stand up and speak out for those who are getting bullied because they are different than the rest of society.  Her words and reaching out towards young homosexual boys probably impacted their lives more than anyone else ever would because she's going through the same thing every day that they are. "On the May 16, 2008" (Heroes). From the airing of The Ellen Show, she  announced that she was homosexual with her girlfriend Portia de Rossi. The audience stood up and cheered, their joy being matched by those who were tuning in at home. But reactions to Ellen's homosexuality was not always so great, because back in 1998 her first television show "Ellen" was canceled, only several episodes after Ellen's "coming out" episode. (Heroes) Having the guts to come out of the closet so broadly to her fans on her own talk show, teens that have been going through the same thing must have a life changing experience to see her do that herself. Her simply letting them know that it's okay not to be "normal" to society is really just OKAY.

Showing her compassion towards not only people but all living animals really apparently touched her followers because they seemed to really appreciate her giving back. Not only did she put her time out and go out of her way to volunteer her time towards these animals she also reached out to simple things such as military wives who were struggling to support their families while their husbands were away fighting for our country. The little things Ellen did such as bringing those women on her show and donating things to them such as strollers, cribs, etc. really seemed to make a change in all their lives. "DeGeneres has also been heavily involved in causes that protect animal rights.  She recently teamed up with the U.S. Postal Service to promote a campaign aimed at increasing animal adoption from local shelters. Ellen was named PETA's 2009 Woman of the Year for her effective role in promoting the welfare of animals." (What They Do and Why We Need Them) Seeing her strongly go out wanting to be involved in these problems that are going around really showed everyone how caring and generous she really is. The fact that she was willing to put everything she could out on the table to help those animals in need, showed the media the real her and not just the rich celebrity she was.

  But what you must be wondering is if after putting all her hard work, generosity, and time what does she gets out of it? Not only did she get just complete a total self achievement at the end of the day but she still manages to keep her famous talk show "The Ellen Show" alive. With her humorous personality she managed to entertain as a living. Ellen was quickly a very successful woman still to this day.  "Ellen's coming out on television shows an act of bravery. In 1997 DeGeneres was the recipient of the coveted Peabody Award, and she also earned an Emmy for writing the critically acclaimed "Puppy Episode," when her character came out as a gay woman to a record 46 million viewers. After that the show went downhill. Ellen made it back to television and has now won an incredible 21 Emmys for her daytime talk show."  (Ellen Lee DeGeneres). This achievement has been a huge impact on Ellen's career and life in general because it proved to everyone and herself that being yourself and doing what you believe at heart can get you far in life. Winning 21 Emmys in anyone's career time is a great success but the fact that Ellen won these awards by doing what she saw as right.

Ellen DeGeneres is truly not only a generous, courageous, and successful woman, but all together I believe that makes her a heroic one too. Always doing all she can to help everyone around her and never being ashamed of the real her, makes me a huge inspiration to young teens and or even adults that are learning day by day just like myself. Ellen really inspires me personally because watching her shows, knowing she's lesbian, and being so caring, really makes me think about how I want to be like her and doing little things that make a huge difference in other people's lives. The simple nest of her speaking out to the gay community to even giving away little things like strollers and funds to military mothers, really change how people see and appreciate Ellen.