When Ellen DeGeneres and Matt Lauer chatted on TODAY Tuesday morning, the pair had plenty to talk about — including her affinity for practical jokes. (DeGeneres recently played a series of "Fifty Shades of Grey"-themed pranks on Lauer and Al Roker, too.)
Ellen DeGeneres: Desire to have kids ‘not enough’
March 17, 201505:34But their conversation covered more serious topics too. DeGeneres opened up about "One Big Happy," the new NBC sitcom for which she serves as executive producer, which follows a family composed of a gay mother and straight father. She also discussed whether she and wife Portia de Rossi plan to have children.
Here are some highlights from the interview.
DeGeneres on being a jokester: "Well, it's not like I grew up playing pranks on people, and I was not that girl in school. I was very shy in school, and I didn't do things like this. I think it really is because I can, because we have so many opportunities to scare people or to surprise people."
DeGeneres on whether she'd like to have kids: "I think I would. But that's not enough to have kids. I love kids. But that's such a big commitment. And it seems long-term. It seems like a commitment that you have to stick with. And I just don't know if I can — it's too risky. Like, what if I don't like the kid? [laughs] What if it turns out that it's not as cute as I wanted or as talented? I'm gonna compare it to all these kids that I have on this show that are so smart and so funny. And I'm like, 'You are nowhere near these kids I had on today.'"
DeGeneres on "One Big Happy" versus her '90s sitcom 'Ellen' (on which her character came out as gay in 1997, shortly after she did in real life): "The story is about best friends, and here's a woman who happens to be gay who wants to have a child. My story on my [previous] sitcom was about someone who realized she was gay and came out, and what were the repercussions of that? This is a whole different thing."
DeGeneres on coping with rumors about her relationship with de Rossi: "There doesn't even need to be a [thick] skin, 'cause it's not real. I'm just more flabbergasted by the fact that someone needs to make up a story. .There's never been a point where we were breaking up or divorcing or fighting. None of these stories are even remotely true. I don't know the magazines and I don't have a publicist, so I don't know."