Oscar-nominated actress Laura Dern has spoken out about the remarkable backlash she experienced following an appearance on the “coming out” episode of Ellen more than 20 years ago.
Dern appeared in the Emmy-winning “The Puppy Episode,” most notable for Ellen DeGeneres’ titular character coming out of the closet as gay. Dern played a lesbian in the episode that catches Ellen’s fancy and forces her to confront her own sexual orientation.
“I didn’t think twice about it. It was a great opportunity,” Dern tells New York Magazine. She also reveals that after taking the role, several gay friends warned her that the part could seriously harm her career. Dern didn’t take the warning seriously until police “swarmed” the stage during rehearsals.
“The first time I became aware was, Oprah and I were having a snack, and suddenly a flood of cops swarmed the set and the stage while we were rehearsing. They’re like, ‘There’s been a bomb threat, we’re sweeping the stage.’ And they start literally rushing us off the stage.”
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Despite high ratings and critical praise for the show, Dern says her career came to a halt. “We all spent the next couple of years really struggling in work and safety,” she says. “It was radical to experience that. It was the only time I ever experienced having to have to have full security detail…[The backlash] was significant. It was significant because I was doing successful independent movies, and, only months before that, I was in Jurassic Park, the most successful movie ever. So it was like, you’re being offered this, you’re being offered that — and it just stopped. Which is kind of wild.”
ABC cancelled Ellen just a year after “The Puppy Episode” aired. Fortunately for DeGeneres and Dern, both their careers have recovered. DeGeneres went on to voice the popular character Dory in Finding Nemo and land her own talk show. Dern scored an Oscar nomination for her work in Wild and has earned critical acclaim for performances in Twin Peaks, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Big Little Lies.
Still, for all the trouble Dern suffered for her appearance on Ellen, she has no regrets. “But what was amazing, which I will never forget, that when she looked in my eyes, she said it was the first time she said ‘I’m gay’ out loud. We didn’t rehearse it, so when she said it to me, and was looking in my eyes and holding my hands and I felt her shaking … the gift — it makes me want to cry — the gift of that, the intimacy of what that means, was such insight for me. And I’ll carry it for the rest of my life.”
maleficent
suffered? NOT! hollymewood
Chrisk
Shut up troll.
Cam
Sweetie, try to make it less obvious your old screename got banned and this is your new one. You right wing trolls are not subtle are you?
maleficent
not banned…
Cam
@maleficent LOL!! So you just admitted you DO have the old screename. Wow……um….bless your heart.
Brian
You tell him, DCGuy.
Chrisk
Kind of gives you a hint what it was like back before then. Something the religious loonies are fighting tooth and nail to return to.
Cam
Even worse, In the world they want, the show never would have been allowed to air and everybody associated with it would have been fired and Ellen would have gone to jail.
Rock-N-RollHS
Yo, monkey man, “back then”? Are you 12? I was alive “back then” and it was hardly nazi germany. I had no problems being out. And people like Madonna and other stars were out their with gay stuff and advocacy.
I really get tired of “privileged” stars like miz fake wake Dern blaming their career lows on blacklisting or sexism or other ‘isms. Show biz is a scummy biz, all about money, and actors come in and out of favor. Streep also has a major low in the 90s.
Actually, Ellen’s ratings plummeted after initial highs of her coming out as the shows became more political and less funny. That’s when it was canceled.
And there are still bomb threats at CNN and elsewhere, and people getting shot at malls and schools, what progress!
Chrisk
Well that is why I said back before then and not just then.
batesmotel
Interesting that Hollywood of all places blacklisted her and Ellen. The majority of the entertainment industry isn’t as brave and supportive as they pretend to be UNTIL everyone is supportive. Coming out in support AFTER everyone else is IS NOT bravery. What Ellen and Laura did was bravery.
Rock-N-RollHS
Blacklisted. LOL. So she says. . .
Rock-N-RollHS
Plenty of people–including celebrities–were advocates of gay rights in the 90s. Do you have any historical reference??
Act Up storming NIH and St. Patricks and the black folks who walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, were brave. Ellen and Laura, well. . .
Donston
Hollywood has always been more about talk than anything else. We should know that by now. I’d say Ellen was “brave” by coming out. At least for the times. But I also don’t give out special prizes for people simply willing to be unabashedly themselves. However, she definitely did risk her career, definitely. Wasn’t nobody with even halfway decent acting career out at the time.
Tombear
Ladies, ladies, ladies, let us not bitch and complain about your brothers!
Terrycloth
Ellen came out . it didn’t nothing for ME ..she was a woman , i couldn’t relate .if it were a man then I would have found something in common.