Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Sep 24, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Australian actress and wife of popular talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Portia De Rossi, has officially changed her name to Portia DeGeneres. The 37 year old ‘Ally McBeal’ star had petitioned to the superior court in Los Angeles for the name change and the court finally approved the proposal on Tuesday.

Portia De Rossi said in a statement that she is thrilled to adopt the name of her wife but will continue to use Portia De Rossi as her professional name. Ellen DeGeneres joked about the change of name by the actress and said that she is now officially Portia ‘Winfrey’. The couple have been dating since 2004 and decided to tie the knot in 2008 after the government allowed same sex marriages. The right was soon taken away by the California government after the passing of the Proposition 8 referendum.

According to sources, James was also added in the name which makes it Portia Lee James DeGeneres, as Lee was her middle name initially. Portia De Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres are both well known faces on American TV and the former appeared most recently in the series ‘Better Off Ted’. She is also known for her performances in ‘Ally McBeal’ and ‘Arrested Development’. Ellen DeGeneres, on the other hand is a well known talk show host. Over the years she has gained huge popularity for her own talk show where she interviews celebrities. She was also the judge of ‘American Idol’ in the last season. This year, however, it is unclear whether she will be joining the judges panel as only Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler have been named so far along with Randy Jackson.