Ellen DeGeneres reflected on her career and her imaginary family as she accepted the Carol Burnett Award for Excellence in Television at the Golden Globes.
DeGeneres said it took her a while to find her way in TV, even after she made history by coming out as gay on her sitcom.
“I had a sitcom. And I lost that sitcom. Then I had another sitcom, and I lost that sitcom too,” she said. “I got to do something I always wanted to do: Make whiskey. Then I got a talk show. I got a talk show. And I was able to be myself. I feel like you all have gotten to know me. I’m an open book.”
DeGeneres then poked fun at her sexuality, thanking a man who doesn’t exist.
“I couldn’t have done it without my husband Mark. Mark, you are my rock,” DeGeneres said to big laughs from the audience, including her wife, actress Portia de Rossi.
DeGeneres and de Rossi have no children, but DeGeneres talked to a couple anyway, looking at the camera and saying, “Rupert and Fiona go to bed.”
She also paid tribute to Carol Burnett, who received the inaugural award named for her last year before DeGeneres became the second recipient.
The Carol Burnett Award — the small-screen version of the group's film counterpart, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, is given annually to honor someone "who has made outstanding contributions to television on or off the screen." Tom Hanks will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award this year.