Ellen DeGeneres’ former bodyguard has slammed her as “cold” and “demeaning”.
Tom Majercak was hired to protect the talk show host while she hosted the 2014 Oscars, and he also shadowed Ellen’s mother, and her wife Portia de Rossi.
Speaking to Fox News, Tom said it was one of the worst jobs he’s ever signed up for, in the ten years he’s worked in security.
He said: “Ellen is the one person that I’ve been assigned to, and I’ve been assigned to quite a few celebrities, that has never taken the time to say hi to me.”
Although Tom said Portia was “very pleasant and carried on a conversation”, he couldn’t say the same for Ellen.
He said: “[She] pretty much just gave me a side glance out of her eye and didn’t even say ‘hello,’ or ‘thank you for protecting my mother, my wife and me.’”
“It was very cold and it was very sly and it was actually kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle.”
“It’s bugged me for years. I see this person come across as being very enlightened and positive and awesome. And everybody loves her and is in awe and that’s really not the case when you meet her in person,” he said.
“When you see her on TV, people fall in love with her but it is a false facade and bravado. You start hearing these stories and I was like, ‘Man, there’s got to be more to this.’
“She’s not the person she portrays to be that she’s playing off of society. That’s my opinion,” he added.
The news comes after Ellen was criticised by staff members over lack of communication about their pay amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Production on The Ellen Show halted in March, and Ellen has since been hosting the show from her house.
A source told Variety: “Radio silence from producers created anxiety among crew members who feared they would be furloughed and, in that case, would need to explore unemployment benefits.”
Staff were also furious over Ellen hiring a non-union company to help her produce the show from her house, when her usual crew members have the same skills and are currently out of work.
The chat show host also hit headlines for all the wrong reasons last month, when YouTube star NikkieTutorials called her “cold” after she appeared on The Ellen Show earlier this year.
