Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi's $27M Montecito mansion burglarized, high-value jewelry and watches stolen
MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA: Earlier this month, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's Montecito home was burglarized, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. According to a press conference released by the sheriff's office on Thursday, the couple's house was broken into on July 4. The exact details of the items stolen from the property have not been made public. "The residence appears to have been targeted due to the victim’s celebrity status," the release states. "The exact description of the items that were taken is not available for release, but they are described as high-value jewelry and watches."
The release further said that the investigators were yet to determine if the burglary in question was linked to any other high profile thefts done in recent times. ''Sheriff’s detectives and forensics technicians have been conducting an extensive and on-going investigation. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is in contact with other law enforcement agencies to determine if this is related to additional recent celebrity home burglaries,'' the release said.
Ellen purchased the massive 8,188-square-foot, Balinese-style home in early 2019 for a whopping $27 million, TMZ reported.
As some simple preventive measures that residents can do in order to deter future burglaries, the authorities said that homeowners should avoid posting on social media about plans to take a vacation. In case they are about to leave their house vacant for a number of days, it is wise to ''leave lights or a television on to give the appearance of someone being home.'' Also, people who can afford should opt for programmable lighting that can be scheduled to turn on and off, so as to save electricity.
Some of the other ways to avoid giving off the impression one is away on vacation is to ''make arrangements for your mail delivery so that it does not accumulate'' at one's doorstep as a sure tell-tale sign. Also, one can inform their neighbors in case they are planning a getaway and encourage them to report suspicious activities.
The 62-year-old comedian has been hosting her show amid the coronavirus pandemic from her $27 million home that she bought last year. This seems to be a rough patch for the daytime talk show host as staffers of her show have opened up about a toxic work environment. Also, guests who have appeared on her show, as well as, employees have complained about DeGeneres being mean. At least 10 former staff members and one current employee of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show spoke to Buzzfeed anonymously and claimed that the show's mantra "Be Kind" was only for the TV. "That 'be kind' bulls**t only happens when the cameras are on. It's all for show. I know they give money to people and help them out, but it's for show," one former employee said. We reported earlier that fresh allegations against Ellen Degeneres' Show might lead to the brand suicide of the famous daytime talk show host's empire.
Though most ex-employees made no specific claims against DeGeneres and blamed executive producers and other senior managers for the toxic work culture, one former staffer said that at the end of the day, it is Ellen's name on the show. "She really needs to take more responsibility. If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what's going on. I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, 'Things are going great, everybody's happy', and she just believes that but it's her responsibility to go beyond that," the unnamed staff told the outlet.