Ellen DeGeneres is ready to leave show business.
The 66-year-old comedian said she’s done with the public eye after her stand-up comedy special airs on Netflix later this year.
DeGeneres made the statement during her comedy show in Santa Rosa, California, on July 1.
“This is the last time you’ll see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done,” she said, according to SFGate.
When a fan asked DeGeneres if she would reprise the voice of Dory from “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory,” she replied, “No, I’m leaving, remember?”
DeGeneres is currently on her “Ellen’s Last Stand … Up” tour. She recently canceled four shows without explanation.
Before the tour, DeGeneres had remained under the radar after her eponymous talk show ended in May 2022 with season 19 amid allegations of toxic workplace practices.
In 2020, current and former employees spoke anonymously about their alleged experiences on the talk show’s set for a BuzzFeed News report. She apologized to staff at the time, and producers Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman left the show.
“As we’ve grown exponentially, I couldn’t keep up and relied on others to do their jobs the way they knew I wanted them to. Some clearly didn’t,” she wrote in a memo at the time, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “That’s changing now, and I’m determined to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
DeGeneres reportedly addressed the controversy during her stand-up comedy show on July 1.
“I got kicked out of show business because I was mean,” she told the audience, according to SFGate.
“I can be demanding, impatient and tough. I’m a strong woman. I’m many things, but I’m not mean,” she added.
The Emmy winner continued: “I always said, ‘I don’t care what people say about me.’ Now I realize I said that when I was so popular.”
DeGeneres previously addressed the allegations against her during an appearance in West Hollywood in April.
“The hate went on for a long time and I tried to avoid the news. The ‘be kind’ girl was not a kind. That was the headline,” she told fans at the Largo.
She also joked that she had become the “most hated person in America.”
Two weeks before the final episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” aired, the former Oscar host told The Hollywood Reporter that her decision to end the show had nothing to do with the behind-the-scenes controversy.
“If you’re a creative person, you need to be constantly challenged. And as great as this show is and as fun as it is, it’s just not challenging anymore,” she insisted.
DeGeneres’ upcoming Netflix special was announced in May.
“To answer the questions that everyone is asking me — Yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes, this is my last special,” the comedian said in a press release.