Ellen DeGeneres revealed on her daytime talk show Thursday that her father, Elliot DeGeneres, has died at age 92
“I lost my dad this week,” she said. “He had a good, long life, and he lived his life exactly how he wanted. He was Christian science his entire life. He never had medicine his whole life. Never went to a doctor. I never had a vaccination. We never had medicine growing up, and he lived to be 92.
“He was very proud of me. He loved this show, and he was a kind man, a very accepting man. There was not one bone of judgement in his body,” she said. “He was very funny. I think my brother Vance and I got our sense of humor from him.”
DeGeneres, 59, said that her father's death was not unexpected. She went on to say that she and her dad, a former insurance salesman, had a special bond and that he was particularly fond of her work in the entertainment business, especially since their family had taken a trip to tour Warner Bros. studio when she was young.
“We only took one family vacation. When I was a little girl, we came to this lot, to the Warner Bros. lot, and took the tour and went around. And now I work on the Warner Bros. lot and have my own stage with my name on it, so he was really proud of that,” she said. “Before he passed away, I got to talk to him, so I got to say goodbye to him, and I was leaving the building and I looked back and there was a rainbow over the Warner Bros. studio.”
Elliot DeGeneres is survived by Ellen DeGeneres, the talk show host’s brother Vance and their mother, Betty DeGeneres, who divorced Elliot DeGeneres in 1970.
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