Ellen DeGeneres To End Talk Show In 2022: ‘It’s Just Not A Challenge Anymore’

Ellen DeGeneres is walking away from her namesake talk show.

The TV host has made the decision that the upcoming season of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will be the last, Ellen confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

The comedian informed her staff about her decision to sign off in 2022 earlier this week and is expected to talk about the news with Oprah Winfrey on “Ellen’s” May 13 show.

The 63-year-old got candid about ending her long-running series with The Hollywood Reporter and told the publication that she just wasn’t challenged anymore, sharing, “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.”

While the announcement comes just 10 months after several former employees came forward with claims of a “toxic” work environment on the set of the show, Ellen noted that her decision to say goodbye to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has been in the works for some time.

“I was going to stop after season 16. That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe for one,” the “Finding Dory” star explained.

Adding, “They were saying there was no way to sign for one. ‘We can’t do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment.’ So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That’s been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, ‘You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19.”

Ellen further noted that the allegations that she faced over the summer “almost impacted the show” but it’s not the reason she’s stopping the series.

“It was very hurtful to me. I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season. So, it’s not why I’m stopping but it was hard because I was sitting at home, it was summer, and I see a story that people have to chew gum before they talk to me and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is hilarious.’ Then I see another story of some other ridiculous thing and then it just didn’t stop. And I wasn’t working, so I had no platform, and I didn’t want to address it on [Twitter] and I thought if I just don’t address it, it’s going to go away because it was all so stupid,” she told THR.

She also explained that it “broke my heart when I learned that people here had anything other than a fantastic experience — that people were hurt in any way.”

Adding, “I’m not a scary person. I’m really easy to talk to. So, we’ve all learned from things that we didn’t realize — or I didn’t realize — were happening. I just want people to trust and know that I am who I appear to be.”