While Ellen has been longtime friends with Billie, her stepping out to support the Grammy winner marked a rare public outing for the former television host and her wife of 17 years. The couple has been living a more private life since they moved from Montecito, Calif., to the English countryside. 

“We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty,” Ellen said at a July 2025 event with broadcaster Richard Bacon, per the BBC. “The villages and the towns and the architecture—everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.”

“It’s clean. Everything here is just better—the way animals are treated, people are polite,” she added. “I just love it here. We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”