"My feelings for Ellen overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later"
About this Quote
The intent is disarmingly practical. She isn’t presenting bravery as a brand, or sexuality as a manifesto. She’s saying love (or at least the need to be with one specific person) can reorder your risk calculations. That lands because it refuses the sanitized version of queer visibility where you come out once, cleanly, to applause. Instead, she admits the mess: the anxiety, the career stakes, the social backlash, the tabloid appetite. “Deal with the other stuff later” is both a romantic shrug and a coping strategy, a reminder that public identity often arrives as a series of deferred consequences.
Context matters: de Rossi’s relationship with Ellen DeGeneres existed in a media ecosystem that treated lesbian celebrity as spectacle and scandal, even after DeGeneres’ own high-profile coming out had supposedly “moved the culture forward.” The subtext is that progress didn’t eliminate the fear; it just changed its wardrobe. Her line captures the strange bargain of modern fame: intimacy can be private, but the moment it becomes serious, it becomes news.
Quote Details
| Topic | Love |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rossi, Portia de. (2026, January 15). My feelings for Ellen overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-feelings-for-ellen-overrode-all-of-my-fear-159111/
Chicago Style
Rossi, Portia de. "My feelings for Ellen overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-feelings-for-ellen-overrode-all-of-my-fear-159111/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My feelings for Ellen overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-feelings-for-ellen-overrode-all-of-my-fear-159111/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.



