Ellen DeGeneres’ public persona has appeared to be at odds with her private actions (Anthony Harvey/Getty)
A bodyguard assigned to protect Ellen DeGeneres at the 2014 Oscars has claimed that her famously friendly demeanour is nothing but “false facade and bravado”.
Tom Majercak was selected as ‘executive protector’ for DeGeneres, her mother, and her partner, Portia De Rossi, when DeGeneres hosted the 86th Academy Awards.
He says he can attest to the mounting allegations about the star and her “notoriously mean” attitude.
In an interview with Fox News, he said that Ellen was the one celebrity he’s worked with “that has never taken the time to say hi to me”, adding: “And I’ve been assigned to quite a few celebrities.”
He claimed to have spent a lot of time with De Rossi at the event, who he described as “very pleasant and carried on a conversation”, but things turned sour when he met DeGeneres.
“It started going negatively when she introduced me to Ellen and Ellen pretty much just gave me a side glance out of her eye and didn’t even say ‘hello,’ or ‘thank you for protecting my mother, my wife and me,’” Majercak said.
“It was very cold and it was very sly and it was actually kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle.”
Majercak also accompanied DeGeneres to the Governor’s Ball after-party, where he said she would only speak with celebrities she’d previously pre-approved to come to her table.
“It’s bugged me for years,” Majercak said. “I see this person come across as being very enlightened and positive and awesome and everybody loves her and is in awe and that’s really not the case when you meet her in person.”
The bodyguard said he initially believed he’d received the “brunt of her frustration” because DeGeneres’ role as Oscars host was so overwhelming, but decided to speak out against her when hearing similar allegations raised by her staff – past and present – as well as a recent guest on her show, YouTuber Nikkie de Jager.
“When you see [Ellen] on TV, people fall in love with her but it is a false facade and bravado,” he continued.
“You start hearing these stories and I was like, ‘Man, there’s got to be more to this.’ She’s not the person she portrays to be that she’s playing off of society. That’s my opinion.”
He concluded: “I can absolutely see through interacting with her first-hand that she doesn’t care about anybody else as long as she’s getting what she wants.
“People are starting to see her true self and that really lends to the support of what my initial thoughts of her have been over the last six years.”