- Laura Dern is looking back on her role in the episode of Ellen in which series star Ellen DeGeneres made history by coming out as a lesbian.
- “It was a massive moment,” Dern shared on the Las Culturistas podcast. “But the moment now reflected on seems like, ‘Well of course, obvious, duh!'”
- Though Dern faced serious professional repercussions for appearing on the episode, she now calls it “one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
Laura Dern has played a critical role in many chapters of Hollywood history, but one stands apart in her personal pantheon.
“Back to cultural shifts, you know, obviously we’re only going to effect change if we’re the first ones,” Dern reflected on Wednesday’s episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Culturistas podcast, during a conversation on LGBTQ representation.
Dern was a part of a major first in 1997, when she appeared on the two-part episode of the sitcom Ellen in which star Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian, making her the first lead queer character in television history.
“Culture catching up to storytelling for the LGBTQ community had to be a thing when someone would go first,” Dern shared.
With nearly 30 years gone by, Dern said she’s encountered numerous fans who say the episode greatly benefitted them in their own coming-out journeys. But she also reflected on the steep toll that the forward-thinking move had on her, DeGeneres, and their costars at the time.
ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images
“I had the honor and privilege of being part of Ellen DeGeneres’ coming-out episode called ‘The Puppy Episode,’ and it was a massive moment,” Dern explained. “But the moment now reflected on seems like, ‘Well of course, obvious, duh!’ A million people must have done it before that, and people must have been going crazy, and celebrating, and it must have been such an emotional moment.”
When the two-part episode aired in April of 1997, Dern said that the “assumption” was, “You’re going to do this thing and thank God people will wake up, love their relatives and their neighbors, see them, everything will expand, culture will catch up, and it will be a beautiful celebration.”
That is not at all how it went down for Dern, DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and the other stars of the episode.
“It was like major security for a couple of years for any of us involved,” she explained, detailing “bomb threats, losing sponsors, and advertisers” during a “crazy” week post-release.
“The world went, ‘No, no, no.’ She lost her show. It was, you know, it took years,” Dern said.
Dern enjoys a broad queer fanbase, which notably celebrated her at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards, when the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles sang a song honoring her status as a gay icon. The Big Little Lies and Marriage Story star pointed to that moment as an illustration of how far the culture has advanced when it comes to queer representation.
“I had a couple of people, part of the Gay Men’s Choir of Los Angeles come up and go, ‘I was a kid who didn’t even know what was going on. I saw that episode,'” she recalled, “and you go, ‘Oh right. That’s why you want culture to catch up later.’ That is culture. Culture is doing it when nobody’s caught up. I mean, it’s just such a gift.”
Dern can still remember holding DeGeneres’ hand as Susan, a woman the Ellen character meets who asks if she too is a lesbian, and if she too feels a romantic spark between them. Ellen initially rejects Susan, but later embraces her identity, rushing to the airport to confess her feelings.
“She was looking in my eyes, saying for the first time, out loud, with people watching. The privilege, the luxury of feeling it for someone in a moment was so beautiful. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
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DeGeneres, who ended her talk show after 19 years in 2022 amid allegations that she fostered a toxic workplace culture, invited Dern and Winfrey onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2017 to celebrate 20 years of “The Puppy Episode.”
Dern said she “didn’t think twice” about starring in the episode, but nodded her head in assent when DeGeneres noted that she was “punished as well and not able to work” after it aired. But there has been “no greater gift than being the person that was with you and looking in your eyes as you said those words,” Dern recalled. “Watching you have this catharsis and the audience support, literally holding each other up during this very emotional moment, it was so profound.”
You can watch the rest of Dern’s appearance on Las Culturistas above.