Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's house was the target of a burglary on July 4, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office on Thursday. This incident adds to the controversies mounted against "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" host.
The Montecito mansion in California was seemingly targeted due to the high profile residents, according to authorities' statement in a press release, indicating that the items stolen from the Hollywood couple's residence included high-value watches and jewelry.
It was not revealed if "The Ellen Show" host and the actress were present inside the house at the time of the robbery.
In order to deter future burglars, the sheriff's office advised citizens of the area to alleviate posting on social media regarding their whereabouts. The sheriff's office further advised to leave a light on or a TV on while outdoors to depict that someone is present inside the home, reported "People."
According to the news release, forensics technicians and detectives "have been conducting an extensive and on-going investigation." The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office is coordinating with other agencies to "determine if this is related to additional recent celebrity home burglaries."
The Sheriff's Office did not identify which burglaries they are making efforts to associate the recent break-ins to. Back in October 2018, a series of celebrity homes in Los Angeles were targeted by robbers. This includes the homes of Nicki Minaj, Alanis Morissette, Emmy Rossum, Rihanna, David Spade, Jaime Pressly, and Christina Milian, indicated Page Six. Yasiel Puig's Encino house was targeted 4 times by such raiders.
The specific description of the items stolen from Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's burglarized home is not available for public disclosure.
The talk show host bought the grand 8,188-square-foot, Balinese-style mansion worth a stunning $27 million back in early 2019.
The comedian has recently been under the radar due to allegations of unpleasant behavior behind the camera. She also trended on Twitter as part of a death hoax amid rumors of her talk show facing cancellation circulated.
The news of robbery came after Jason Emil Yaselli, a Beverly Hills real estate agent, was arraigned in 2019 as responsible for a surge of house thefts from 2016 to 2018. Celebrity victims included Adam Lambert, Usher, and "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" stars Dorit and Paul Kemsley.
DeGeneres particularly made headlines on the 16th of July after numerous anonymous employees from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" alleged a toxic environment behind the camera on the prominent daytime talk show.
According to a joint statement from executive producers Mary Connelly, Ed Glavin, and Andy Lassner, the trio is "truly heartbroken and sorry to learn" about such allegations. "It's not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us."
The 62-year-old had been hosting the talk show during the COVID-19 lockdown in her home. She has previously compared quarantine to being in prison, which ignited the ire of netizens across social media platforms.
Adding to the incident of Ellen DeGeneres and de Portia Rossi's burglary, the "Finding Dory" voice talent has been claimed to have shown cold behavior by a former bodyguard and a former guest on the show, beauty blogger Nikkie de Jager.
