Ellen DeGeneres Talks Love, Food and Courage in New Issue of 'Shape'

Ellen DeGeneres is gracing the cover of Shape magazine's May 2010 issue and dishes on love, food and the courage to be yourself.

When it comes to wife, Portia de Rossi, Ellen gushes, "She loves me no matter what. Whenever I feel bad about myself, or if I'm in a period where I'm not working out, she's constantly telling me that she doesn't notice, that I look beautiful. She'll say, 'I think you could gain 10 more pounds.' She would rather have me heavier than thinner, and she really hates that I ever doubt myself. She loves how I look. She wants me to be happy and never think about it."

At age 52 and a with a vegan diet, the talk show host and American Idol judge says she is dedicated to yoga and a healthy lifestyle, "I first started doing power yoga in L.A., which really makes no sense. Power yoga? It's the opposite of what it should be. Yoga should calm you down!"

And before her health habits changed, Ellen admits, "Food used to be really important to me. I loved steak, I loved hamburgers, I loved all that stuff."

Before she was all grown up, Ellen especially remembers a lonelier childhood, "I was very much a tomboy. I loved sports, running around, playing tennis. I learned golf in high school because my mother remarried and we moved [from Louisiana] to a really small town in Texas. I had no friends, so I learned to play golf, because you can do that by yourself."

A lot has changed since then and when the out lesbian showed up in Los Angeles, her expectations were very different.

"When I came to Hollywood, my whole motivation was to be loved and appreciated, which is the stupidest thing in the world," she says. "You think, 'If I'm famous, everyone will love me.' The truth is, when you're famous, some people will love you and some people will hate you for the exact same thing."

Ellen acknowledges she has been lucky to have avoided the pressure in the industry to be a thinner, prettier version of herself, "Either I wasn't that stereotypical beautiful girl or they just gave up on me," she deadpans. "I was just funny. That's what I was. I never thought I was supposed to dress a certain way or be a certain size. I never put that pressure on myself, and no one ever put it on me." Which, she says, is how it should be.

Read the complete Ellen DeGeneres interview here.

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