From De Rossi to DeGeneres
I read that another Hollywood star is changing her name. This happens all the time so no big deal, right? Well, this one is a little different. Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres became a couple in 2004 and joined in civil union in 2008. Now Portia wants to change her last name to DeGeneres.
Portia de Rossi told People Magazine, "Marriage is a different way of being together. There's a peace to [being married] and a sense of togetherness that we just didn't have before. And I didn't even realize it would change as much as it has, but it's so lovely."
DeGeneres is a comedian, actress and talk show host and De Rossi is an actress. The famous couple makes plenty of headlines wherever they go, but their latest announcement has really caused a stir. De Rossi filed papers recently to change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres.
It's not the first name change for de Rossi. The Australian actress was originally given the name Amanda Lee Rogers by her parents. She changed her name when she was 15 in an attempt to reinvent herself. She said, "When I was 15, I changed my name legally. I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn't fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name."
She chose the name Portia from Shakespeare and combined that with an Italian last name. Now de Rossi has opted to forgo that Italian last name to become DeGeneres. It makes me wonder if the Lucy Stone League is as alarmed by a woman changing her last name for marriage when the person she's marrying is another woman?
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