And, with that, a television era has come to an end.
On Thursday, May 26, the very final episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show aired, about a month after the installment was actually taped.
The comedian -- who hosted this program for 19 years and earned numerous awards and accolades along the way -- welcomed final guest singers Billie Eilish and Pink for the occasion, along with close friend Jennifer Aniston.
She came out to a standing ovation, as well, despite the last two years having been marred by reports of a toxic workplace environment all arround Ellen.
“Welcome to our very last show," DeGeneres said on stage.
"I walked out here 19 years ago, and I said that this is the start of a relationship. And today is not the end of a relationship. It’s more of a little break. It’s a, ‘You can see other talk shows now.
"And I may see another audience once in a while.'"
Ellen, of course, was always great with a joke.
But her reputation took a major hit in mid-2020 when former employees details all the ways in which they were mistreated behind the scenes.
Multiple producers (who were eventually sent packing) were accused of micro-aggressions, bullying, racism and sexism.
Ahead of this final episode airing on Thursday, Ellen spoke broadly to The Hollywood Reporter about these allegations, most of which she previously addressed on stage.
"There was a lot that happened during that time that was unfortunate but it is what it is," she told this outlet.
"You go through stuff in life and you just keep learning and growing. That's how I have to look at it."
On the finale, Ellen went back in time, referencing the challenging of selling a talk show with a gay host.
"Mo one thought that this would work," DeGeneres said.
"Not because it was a different kind of show, but because I was different.
"Very few stations wanted to buy the show, and here we are, 20 years later, celebrating this amazing journey together."
Continued Ellen:
“When we started this show I couldn’t say, ‘gay’ on the show ... I said it at home, a lot. ‘What are we having for our gay breakfast?’ Or, ‘Pass the gay salt.’ ‘Has anyone seen the gay remote?’
"Things like that, but we couldn’t say, ‘gay.’ I couldn’t say, ‘we’ because that implied that I was with someone.
"Sure couldn’t say, ‘wife,’ and that’s because it wasn’t legal for gay people to get married, and now I say ‘wife’ all the time.”
(The camera then panned to a beaming Portia de Rossi, Ellen's spouse, sitting in the crowd.)
This all is true.
Say what you want about Ellen these days and the false persona she may have put on for years, but the star did change Hollywood in many ways.
“Twenty-five years ago, they canceled my sitcom because they didn’t want a lesbian to be in prime time once a week," DeGeneres went on.
"And I said, ‘OK, then I’ll be on daytime every day. How about that?’ What a beautiful, beautiful journey that we have been on together.
"And if this show has made you smile, if it has lifted you up, when you’re in a period of some type of pain, some type of sadness, anything that you’re going through, then I have done my job."
To wrap up this portion of the finale, Ellen said in her monologue:
“Because of this platform, we have been able to change people’s lives, and this show has forever changed my life.
"It is the greatest experience I have ever had, beyond my wildest imagination.
"So, tWitch, one last time, dance with me."
Later on, Aniston came out as a guest.
She talked about the ending of the sitcom Friends and how she continued her career afterward, prompting the following response from Ellen:
“I know that I want to just to lay low for a little while.
"I want to rest, and then I’ll do something again, but I don’t know what it is."