Ellen DeGeneres' Iconic 'Coming-Out' Episode Aired 25 Years Ago Today: Why It Was So Groundbreaking
Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images On April 30, 1997,Ellen DeGenerespublicly came out as gay on her ABC sitcom,Ellen— making her character, Ellen Morgan, the first gay or lesbian lead character on a U.S. network television show. During Thursday’s episode ofThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres, 64, paid tribute to her former sitcom’scoming-out episodeand opened up about how that moment impacted her and her career. “When I came out, people warned me that it was going to ruin my career, and they were right for a while,” she said during her opening monologue....