Ellen DeGeneresandPortia de Rossifelt an undeniable attraction when they first met.
After the two were introduced at a Rock the Vote concert, de Rossi, 48, recalls running after DeGeneres, 63, backstage. “I remember thinking that she was the coolest, most fascinating, beautiful, funniest person I’d ever met,” she tells PEOPLE inone of this week’s cover stories. “But I, at the time, was closeted; I really wasn’t comfortable with my sexuality. I just knew that being with her would be a bit of a thing for me, so we didn’t get together after that for about three years.”
At the Big in ‘04 VH1 honors, “We saw each other and started talking, and that was it,” says DeGeneres. “She opened up and said she’d been thinking about me. And it surprised me. It was a big deal for her to be seen with me. The very first time we were photographed together was when I joined her at theGolden Globesafter-party. And that’s when everyone knew that we were together.”
For more onEllen DeGeneresand Portia de Rossi, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, orsubscribe here.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.Ari and Louise
The two quickly became one of the highest profile LGBTQ couples, and de Rossi gives full credit to her wife, whovery publicly came outin 2001, for supporting her through the transition.
Ari and Louise
“It’s hard because you’d never want to be a representative for millions of people,” adds DeGeneres. “Everyone is unique. We just happen to be two openly gay women, and this is how we live. But it’s something that I’m very proud of, if I can help people.”
Lara Porzak Photography via Getty
So what have they learned about love? “The more you love something, the more you get back,” says DeGeneres. “I’ve been in a lot of different relationships, and you really can have all these qualities that seem like they’re right, but you can’t force it.”
Adds de Rossi: “Love is everything. Because there’s nothing in the world that would be enjoyable without it. And real love never stays stagnant. It never stays the same. It’s always changing and growing. You just have to kind of go with it.”
source: people.com
