Betty DeGeneres

Betty Jane DeGeneres (née Pfeffer; born May 20, 1930) is an American LGBT rights activist and former actress. Through her marriage to her first husband Elliott DeGeneres, she is the mother of Ellen and Vance DeGeneres, and the mother-in-law of retired actress Portia de Rossi. She was the first straight spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Project and an active member of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). She gained notability following her lesbian daughter Ellen's highly publicized coming out in 1997.

Life and career

The youngest of three daughters, DeGeneres was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1930, during the height of the Great Depression. Her father was German and her mother was Irish. In 2005, Ellen spoke publicly for the first time about the molestation she had suffered from her stepfather when she was a teenager. DeGeneres returned to LSU after the age of 50 to complete her master's degree in speech pathology. She also describes the media scrutiny she received after Ellen came out. Her second book, Just a mother, continues these themes. She also wrote a column for the (now defunct) website PlanetOut called "Ask Betty".

DeGeneres appeared as an extra in the episode "The Puppy Episode" of the television sitcom Ellen, in which her daughter Ellen's character comes out. DeGeneres appears in many episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, sitting in the audience.

In her 2024 Netflix special For Your Approval, daughter Ellen said DeGeneres had been diagnosed with dementia.