“Bachelorette” star Ali Fedotowsky says Ellen DeGeneres made her feel 'stupid' on talk show: 'She was laughing at me'

The Bachelorette alums Ali Fedotowsky and Kaitlyn Bristowe reunited as the former recalled a prior rocky encounter with comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

Fedotowsky appeared on a recent episode of Bristowe's Off the Vine podcast, where she responded to Bristowe's inquiry about meeting DeGeneres, in the wake of recent controversy involving the past working environment on the stand-up icon's beloved talk series The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

"Did you ever meet Ellen DeGeneres? Was she nice or no?" Bristowe asked, to which Fedotowsky responded, "She made me feel pretty not great."

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She clarified, noting that, "it's not that she was mean, per se, she just made me feel stupid."

Fedotowsky then recalled sitting for an interview on DeGeneres' program, which she said got off to an uncomfortable start.

"I was so excited to be on the show. I don't think she's a bad person, I just think that sometimes when you do a job like that all day every single day for years, you're just kind of over it. One, she's talking to people who are crafted. Here I am, this 24-year-old, famous for no reason, [I come] on her show, she's probably like, I've got to talk to one of these idiots again," she said. "I went on the show and I was dancing, you know how everyone comes out dancing? I was trying to be funny and personable. Instead of laughing with me, she was laughing at me. You know what I mean? So, I felt really stupid."

Fedotowsky did not reveal other specifics about which appearance on DeGeneres' talk show made her feel that way, though a clip from a 2010 interview on the talk show includes a portion where DeGeneres jokingly asks the Bachelorette star if she's "drunk" during their chat.

The Bachelorette alum previously appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show earlier that year, following her exit from The Bachelor.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for DeGeneres for comment.

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In the final stand-up special of her career, which debuted in late 2024 on Netflix, DeGeneres spoke about her controversies over the years, claiming that she was "kicked out of show business" after reports claimed that the star wasn't as friendly in real life as she appeared to be on her talk show.

"Yeah, the 'be kind' girl wasn't kind, that was the headline. Here's the problem, I'm a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show every day by saying, 'Be kind to one another,'" DeGeneres said in the special. "Had I ended my show by saying, 'Go f--- yourselves,' people would've been pleasantly surprised to find out I'm kind."

WarnerMedia eventually launched an internal investigation that found there were "deficiencies" in the talk show's production, and the show parted ways with a trio of producers: Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman.

DeGeneres also apologized to staff and offered them perks during the scandal, with a source telling EW at the time that she addressed employees by saying, "Does that mean I’m perfect? No. I’m not. I’m a multi-layered person, and I try to be the best person I can be and I try to learn from my mistakes." EW obtained a letter from DeGeneres that was sent to colleagues, in which she stated, "we are taking steps, together, to correct the issues."

Watch Fedotowsky and Bristowe discuss DeGeneres in the video above.

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