Ellen DeGeneres Gets Emotional About Her Carol Burnett Award Win: 'It Sends a Really Powerful Message'

Louisa Ballhaus

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At the 77th annual Golden Globes tonight, comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres received the Carol Burnett award for excellence in television. Backstage, DeGeneres shared why her Golden Globes honor sends a “powerful message” to those trying to break into the TV industry, and got emotional about what this honor means to her.

After delivering her acceptance speech on stage, DeGeneres shared more thoughts to a group of reporters, including SheKnows Entertainment Editor Sara Kitnick. “My life has been a crazy journey; I never could have imagined that I would have won any awards,” she told the room. “I think it sends a really powerful message to anyone out there trying to start a career and saying, ‘I’m different.’ You can accomplish a whole lot so — as much as I don’t seem emotional, I’m deeply moved by this, I really am.”

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For DeGeneres, the fact that she’s winning an award for TV at all — particularly one named after the iconic Carol Burnett — is shocking and humbling. “I’ve gone in and out of television,” she explained, having just talked about the infamous “Puppy Episode” of Ellen where she came out as gay in 1997 — and had her show cancelled shortly thereafter. “The fact that I would get something even connected to a name that I grew up admiring is obviously very important to me and I think it means a lot to other people.”

While DeGeneres’ journey had its ups and downs, as she acknowledged, the TV star said she’s grateful for the challenges she’s faced, knowing that they’ve taken her to the place she’s in now. “I think that I am really happy for every single thing that happened in my life. I’m happy for the people that didn’t support me, I’m happy for the times that were the hardest times in my life because I feel like that’s what makes you.”

“If everything’s easy, you don’t really have anything to compare it to, so, I’m really grateful for all of the hard times, all the things that didn’t work out the way I wanted them to work out,” DeGeneres continued. “And I feel bad for people that have everything working all the time because that’s just not life. Life doesn’t work that way…so I’m just grateful for my journey.” Bravo, Ellen, and congrats on this amazing honor!

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