Betty, Ellen DeGeneres’ Mom, Diagnosed with Dementia

Ellen DeGeneres’ mother, Betty DeGeneres, has reportedly been diagnosed with dementia. During her recent stand-up comedy set at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 1, the comedian touched upon her 94-year-old mother’s condition, according to a source revealed to In Touch Weekly.

“My whole identity used to be wrapped up in that show, and my mother’s identity used to be being Ellen’s mom, and now I don’t have a show and she doesn’t know she’s my mother,” DeGeneres reportedly told the crowd. She added that her mother isn’t aware she has dementia and likely “thinks I’m Kelly Ripa.” DeGeneres did not provide additional details on her mother’s diagnosis timeline during the show.

This isn’t the first health issue Betty DeGeneres has faced. In her mid-40s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, a time when Ellen was just 16. Reflecting on that period in a 2017 interview with USA Today, DeGeneres said, “everything was a dirty little secret back then.” Betty underwent a mastectomy, which DeGeneres recounted “was not spoken of.” Despite her mother’s attempts to shield her, Ellen had to assist with her recovery and physical rehabilitation, which only strengthened their bond.

It was also during this challenging period that Ellen experienced sexual abuse from her stepfather. In a revealing conversation with David Letterman on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, DeGeneres said, “he told me when she was out of town that he’d felt a lump in her breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn’t want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine.”

DeGeneres reportedly reflected on this painful experience during her recent stand-up show, sharing with the audience that she entered show business “to heal my childhood wounds.” She believed that by making people like her, she would find happiness.

The stand-up show marked DeGeneres’ return to the spotlight two years after her talk show ended amid allegations of being a toxic workplace. A source described the event to In Touch as a “coming clean” and termed it both a “redemption tour and a confessional.” DeGeneres reportedly addressed “the truth behind all the rumors, including some jaw-dropping secrets she hid from the world.” Audience members were required to lock their phones, which the source suggested was due to Ellen’s heightened paranoia given past experiences. The source also noted that DeGeneres appears to have worked through many of her issues.

Source: In Touch Weekly, USA Today