Ellen DeGeneres talks about challenges while growing up

Ellen DeGeneres went from small-time, stand-up comic to one of the hottest and most recognizable Hollywood celebrities. The 58-year-old talk show host and actress let the world know she was gay in 1997, which led to initial shock followed by overwhelming support from friends, fans and family.

In a recent interview, she admitted that coming out was not easy for her father, Elliot DeGeneres. Because her mother Betty was sassy and sarcastic, he wanted Ellen to live differently while “straight.”

She told Hello! magazine, “My parents divorced when I was young – they were very different personalities. My mother is a strong woman, sarcastic and sassy, and I learnt how to be a tough woman from her. My dad is a wonderful man but he has a lot of fear and he was overprotective of me. He didn’t want me to hurt myself so he wanted me to be nice and quiet all the time and not really argue or speak my opinion. So imagine his challenge of having an openly gay child…”

After marrying Portia de Rossi in 2008, DeGeneres feels her journey to being open about her lifestyle made their relationship grow stronger.

“Now I have Portia in my life, I’ve been forced to grow a great deal, because I’ve learnt that you can’t really get anything from anyone unless you have something to give to them. So I come to this relationship as a whole person, which I wasn’t ever before. She and I both support each other and we both believe in each other and it’s great,” she stated.