Apparently, the most defining moments of your life and career would almost not happen if you weren't brave enough to do one simple thing - well, at least that was the case for Ellen DeGeneres.
People reports: "The star, who publicly came out as a lesbian in 1997, broke ground when her character on her sitcom 'Ellen' also came out."
In a clip of Sunday's episode of Oprah's Master Class, Ellen DeGeneres describes the struggle she felt at the time regarding coming out as gay: "I certainly didn't ever think that I was going to come out, period. I didn't think I'd be coming out on a show, ever."
Fortunately, Ellen DeGeneres eventually realized that coming out - and ultimately being honest with herself - was the right thing to do. She attributes this realization to a course she took in California's Esalen Institute. Ellen DeGeneres explains:
"But, someone gave me a gift - a course at a place called Esalen up in Big Sur, it's kind of like a hippie retreat place and you go and just, no TV and no music and no anything. It's just meditation and different things in different courses. And there's a course called changing the inner dialogue of your subconscious mind. So I thought that would be an interesting course to take, 'cause I wanted to know what the inner dialogue of my subconscious mind was. And it was scary and crazy and what came out of listening to what I have been saying to myself is: 'Would I be famous? Would they still love me if they knew I was gay?' And my fear was, no, they wouldn't. And then it made me feel ashamed that I was hiding something; that made me feel ashamed that I couldn't be honest and really be who I am. And I just didn't want to pretend to somebody else anymore so that people would like me."
Ellen DeGeneres net worth is $330 million. She reportedly earns a $75 million salary.
Catch "Oprah's Master Class" on Sundays at 8PM ET on OWN.
