She started working a series of odd jobs, including selling vacuum cleaners and painting houses. Ellen’s older brother, Vance, was always considered to be the comedian of the family. He found modest success as a comedian/actor. Ellen’s life changed forever when she found herself to be nervous during a public speaking event. She used humor to cover up her nerves and the audience ate it up. She entertained the crowd and received offers to perform paid gigs. Thanks to her mother’s financial support, Ellen was able to pursue this comedy thing full time in 1981. After a few years of working the comedy circuit, she got her big break, thanks to Jay Leno. He reportedly told the folks on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson about Ellen, and they sent a booking agent to watch her act. They loved it, and she ended up appearing on the show, making her the only female comic to be invited by Johnny to sit on his famous couch during her first visit. Like Jerry Seinfeld and Adam Sandler, she was comedy gold. After her strong performance on The Tonight Show, she started making regular appearances on several other talk shows, including David Lettermen and The Oprah Winfrey Show. After mastering stand-up, Ellen got her own prime-time sitcom in 1994. Without a doubt, Ellen DeGeneres’ net worth was ballooning. The show faced a bit of criticism in 1997 when Ellen’s character became the first lead in sitcom history to openly acknowledge her homosexuality on air. Some of the show’s sponsors actually withdrew their advertisements in fear of the backlash. The show was canceled just one year later, despite earning an Emmy Award for the groundbreaking episode. This was a rough time in her life, but as you all know, she would bounce back in a huge way. In 2003, she premiered her new daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, on NBC and it was a massive hit. As of 2017, the show had won 59 Daytime Emmy Awards and has become one of the most popular daytime talk shows in history. Over 2,500 episodes have aired and the show is renewed through 2020. As it stands right now, her net worth is at an impressive $450 million. In 2017, her net worth was $360 million. She’s living her best life right now. She rakes in as much as Jay Z, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan.
