Ellen Fights Back Against Marriage Rumors
A.J. HAMMER, HOST: Right now on the "Top Ten Countdown," Demi`s shocking cocaine confession. We`re talking about Demi Lovato`s bombshell revelations about her extreme addiction to cocaine.</s>DEMI LOVATO, SINGER: I could hide it to where I would sneak drugs. I couldn`t go without probably like 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine. And I`d bring it on airplanes.</s>HAMMER: She used it every 30 minutes and even smuggled it onto planes. How did Demi get clean? Plus, Giselle Bundchen`s breast-feeding blunder. Does the supermodel deserve to get slammed over this Instagram pic of her breast-feeding her daughter? SBT starts right now. Hello and thank you for watching. I`m A.J. Hammer. We are kicking off our "Top Ten Countdown" of today`s must-see, must-share stories with No. 10. It`s Ellen`s remarkable rant and revenge.</s>ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: It`s so ridiculous to me. There`s not one ounce of truth to any of it. I am very happily married.</s>HAMMER: That was Ellen this afternoon doing something pretty extraordinary. She was taking on the tabloids over reports that she and her wife, Portia De Rossi are splitting up. Now, it`s obviously not the first time the tabloids tried to trash Ellen`s marriage, so why is she speaking out now? Well, you are about to hear Ellen`s amazing story from Ellen herself. Entertainment TV host Carly Steel is with me in New York. And "Access Hollywood`s" Segun is in Hollywood. So Ellen says that she was in the hair salon, and she saw her supposed life story on the cover of a magazine. It had the headline "Ellen-Portia Marriage Crumbles." So let`s watch now what she said on her show this afternoon about it.</s>DEGENERES: So I get the magazine, and I`m flipping through. And there`s one page torn out. The only page torn out was my story. I will never know what is tearing my marriage apart. I don`t know what`s happening. It`s so ridiculous to me. There`s not one ounce of truth to any of it. I am very happily married. In fact, the only thing we ever argue about is who loves who more.</s>HAMMER: I love that. I love, Carly, that she spoke out. I love what she had to say. But I`m also a little miffed as to why she decided to speak out now, because again, Portia and Ellen have been attacked in the tabloids before. Why do you think she decided this was the time to actually address it?</s>CARLY STEEL, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, comedians are known to use their own personal experiences for their monologues. And goodness knows, Ellen has to do one every single day, so it`s great material for her. I personally think it`s not a great idea to speak out. We have this saying in the</s>U.K.: "Never explain, never complain." And sometimes when you do address these rumors, it does add fuel to the fire. However, I think she`s no stranger to speaking out about things. She famously came out in 1997. She and Portia have been together since the early 2000s.</s>HAMMER: Yes.</s>STEEL: There`s been no talk of any split or any issue so far. So I think everything`s fine.</s>HAMMER: You make a good point. There are a lot of people now who may have seen this and they`re going to run out and try to find that tabloid to read all about the supposed break up that`s going on. What do you think, Segun? Did Ellen do herself more harm than good by going so public? You know, people are cynical. They do say, "Thou doth protest too much" sometimes in these situations.</s>SEGUN ODUOLOWU, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Yes, and A.J., I`m a dyed-in-the- wool cynic usually. But I have to disagree here. I think nipping any type of rumor in the bud is the best course of action. Who else but Ellen is going to have the insider`s opinion and view of what`s going on? So for her to use her show as a platform to speak not only about tabloids in general creating fire or creating smoke where there is no fire, but I love the fact that she -- you know, she made a joke out of it. She made light of the fact that tabloids do invade our privacy, invade your life. And in L.A., as well as you know in New York, it can be pretty insistent and pretty awful. So you know, good for her. Way to stand up and say, "You know what? There`s no problem."</s>HAMMER: Yes. See, I totally agree with you. I think Ellen is the one person among maybe just a handful who could certainly get away with saying something and it not causing more problems. But she wasn`t finished yet, with what I just showed you. She actually made her point as we were saying, the way she often does, with humor. Let`s watch some more.</s>DEGENERES: And I know they have to fill magazines. Every issue, every week it has to be filled up. But I don`t know how they can print lies like that. And it`s tricky, because they quote a reliable source or a good friend. Because you know how many good friends would talk to tabloids. Right? All your good friends would. Really, if they want to make it more believable, they should at least say, "Portia and Ellen`s marriage crumbles, according to a terrible, terrible friend."</s>HAMMER: I think that`s true. That`s so well. And I love that she said that. But Carly, as great as I think it is that she put it out there and really let the world know, "Hey, this is what goes on. This is the nonsense, the B.S. that`s put out there," I don`t think it`s going to stop the headlines at all.</s>STEEL: No. It`s only creating it. I actually didn`t know about this until she started talking about it. You probably wouldn`t either. I mean, Jennifer Aniston gets things said about her all the time. She does not comment. They go away. I completely rebut the claim that it`s good to take it on. I think keep on and carry on, just like the queen. That`s what I say.</s>HAMMER: Wait a second. But it`s Ellen.</s>ODUOLOWU: No way. No way. No way. First of all, unlike Jennifer Aniston -- unlike Jennifer Aniston, Ellen is on TV every day. So whether or not -- whether she wants to address it or not address it, it`s going to be thrown into her face every day. Jennifer Aniston does, like, two movies a year.</s>HAMMER: Here`s the thing that I will say. If there really was a problem, I actually don`t think she would have said anything, because what would the point have been? Carly, Segun, we`ll leave it there. Thank you so much. And we move onto No. 9 on our countdown. The official kick-off of the road to Oscars, beginning with today`s SAG nominations. Leading the way with the most nominations, "12 Years a Slave." Really driving home what an extraordinary and welcome year this has been for black cinema. "12 Years a Slave" getting four nominations. Right behind it, my friend Lee Daniels. "Lee Daniels` The Butler" got three nominations, including a nod for Oprah Winfrey. Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role is that category. That does put her up the likes... Up against the likes of Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lawrence. And we are taking on the biggest battles with CNN "NEW DAY`s" Nischelle Turner and Rentrak`s Paul Dergarabedian. I spoke with them today live on SBT at noon.</s>HAMMER: Let us roll out the very first category. The nominations for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. This is basically SAG`s equivalent of Best Picture. In this category, we have "12 Years a Slave," "American Hustle," "August: Osage County," which also got three total nominations, as did "Dallas Buyers Club," and we mentioned "Lee Daniels` The Butler." Pauly D, off to you first. Which movie takes it?</s>PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, RENTRAK: Well, I loved "American Hustle." And what a great cast. It`s like an all-star, you know, like, football team or a greatest hits of a cast in this incredible period piece set in the `70s. Jennifer Lawrence coming off the huge success of "The Hunger Games." Of course, Bradley Cooper. Jeremy Renner is in the film. Amy Adams is brilliant in it. And, of course, the almost unrecognizable Christian Bale, who is at the center of this film. And he`s physically transformed. But it`s not just about that physical transformation. It`s about this entire ensemble coming together and putting you in the `70s with the music, the set design, the costumes and this great acting. David O. Russell, fantastic director; has worked with a lot of these actors before. He directed "Silver Linings Playbook" and "The Fighter." For me, this is just an incredible film. I think the accolades are going to keep coming as more people see this movie as it`s released and then goes into wider release over time. I think it`s going to be a tough film to beat.</s>HAMMER: Paul, what you`re saying is you like this movie?</s>DERGARABEDIAN: I kind of liked it.</s>HAMMER: "American Hustle" is getting a lot of attention. Yes, clearly. And obviously, Jennifer Lawrence has been getting pretty much praise nonstop for her performance in the movie. This morning...</s>DERGARABEDIAN: Yes, absolutely.</s>HAMMER: ... very deservedly, she was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. And Nischelle, you just spoke with Jennifer about taking on this role. I want to watch what she told you.</s>NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: She is -- she`s a maniac.</s>JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ACTRESS: Yes.</s>TURNER: But that had to have been so fun to play, just out of your head.</s>LAWRENCE: It was so fun. Well, it was so fun to try to make her -- you know, when I read the script it was she was just a maniac. But -- but making her -- why is she this way? Humanizing her and giving her more humility and making her less of a -- you know, less of an enemy, kind of that was the most exciting thing for me.</s>HAMMER: See, I love Jennifer Lawrence. Anything that comes out of her mouth. Sometimes it`s boring hearing actresses or actors talk about their roles. Jennifer makes it exciting. We all love her, Nischelle. But do you think she`s a lock to win this in this category? Because look at who she`s up against: Julia Roberts for "August: Osage County," and everybody`s happy to see Oprah Winfrey getting that nomination for "Lee Daniels` The Butler."</s>TURNER: you know, I don`t think she`s a lock, A.J., as well as I don`t think "American Hustle" will win for Best Ensemble. It was a great film, and she gave a great performance. But if you look at this film, the best performances in this film were Amy Adams, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper. They didn`t even get nominations. I think, while Jennifer Lawrence was great, part of this was "We`ve got to get her in there." That`s kind of my feeling about this, because I think there were some really wonderful performances there: Paulson in "12 Years a Slave," I think deserved a nomination for this today. So I think that it will come down to either Julia Roberts in this category, but I really think Lupita Ngong`o for "12 Years a Slave" will win this award for Best Supporting Actress in a Film this year.</s>HAMMER: All right. We will see. Let me get to another category really quick, the showdown of SAG`s equivalent of Best Actress in a movie. This is Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"; Judi Dench, "Philomena"; Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"; Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"; Emma Thompson for "Saving Mr. Banks." Pauly D, I only have time for your answer. Who`s it going to be?</s>DERGARABEDIAN: Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers. Love the movie. Loved her performance. She`s this pretty much unlikable character...</s>HAMMER: All right.</s>DERGARABEDIAN: ... but she really is passionate about her character.</s>HAMMER: Well, of course, following the SAG nominations come the Golden Globe nods. They`re going to be revealed tomorrow morning. SBT will be live at 12 p.m. Eastern, and we of course, will have complete coverage. Moving now to Demi Lovato`s absolutely shocking cocaine confession.</s>LOVATO: I would just -- I don`t know, I would smuggle it, basically, and just wait until everyone in first class went to sleep, and I would just do it right there.</s>HAMMER: Wow. Pretty hard to believe a former Disney star was so hooked on cocaine that she couldn`t take a flight without it. So just how bad was her extreme addiction, and how did Demi finally get clean? And here`s some more stunning stuff from Hollywood. Gisele Bundchen getting slammed by moms everywhere for this Instagram pic of her breast- feeding her daughter. Does it show a powerful mom or, as some are suggesting, a clueless supermodel, totally out of touch with the real world? Will one of these diva`s be No. 1? This is SBT on HLN.