Blazing a trail: Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's love story

For over a decade, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have been one of the most prominent and powerful couples in Hollywood. Here’s how the pair fell in love.

DeGeneres and De Rossi met at a party back in 2000, and De Rossi told Oprah she fell in love instantaneously. However, at the time she had not come out as gay, so she could not express her feelings.

Three years later in 2004, they reconnected at VH1’s Big in ’04 Awards. At the time, DeGeneres was in a long-term relationship with photographer Alexandra Hedison and De Rossi was dating director Francesca Gregorini. However, their connection was undeniable and the pair ended their individual relationships to be together.

“She had a girlfriend and I had a girlfriend, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we’re going to have an affair,’” DeGeneres explained to People Magazine. “We were just supposed to be together. It was a tough decision. I was physically getting sick because I was trying not to say anything. So I told Alex and she told Francesca. It was really hard to uproot everything.”

They went public as a couple in 2005 at the HBO Golden Globe Awards After Party. They soon moved in together.

Speaking to People Magazine, De Rossi said: “It’s the first time that I’ve known in every cell of my being that I’m with somebody for the rest of my life.”

DeGeneres and De Rossi married on August 16, 2008, soon after same-sex marriage was legalised in California. They said ‘I do’ at their Los Angeles home with only 19 guests present. Both brides wore Zac Posen outfits for the big day. Late philosopher and self-help guru Wayne Dyer officiated the ceremony.

“Today we have taken a giant step forward toward the ideal that all of us, with no exceptions, are not only created equal, but we each have the unalienable right to pursue our own happiness,” he said during the ceremony.

“I have often said that true nobility is not about being better than anyone else, it’s about being better than you used to be. With your exchange of vows today, you symbolize for many who have gone before you, who were forced to live their lives in quiet desperation, lurking in the shadows, that we as a people, are truly becoming better than we used to be.”