“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in,’” DeGeneres said at a speaking event in Cheltenham. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”

A Self-Imposed Exile Over a Democratic Election

DeGeneres, 67, and Portia, 52, now reside in the Cotswolds, where she says they’re embracing a “simpler” lifestyle far from the country that made her a household name and multimillionaire.

“Everything here is just better,” she said of the UK, listing off “polite people,” “clean air,” and “the way animals are treated” as reasons she prefers Britain to America.

While some see their retreat as personal preference, others question why an American celebrity who built her empire through U.S. audiences and networks would openly turn her back on the country, particularly over the outcome of a democratic election