Ellen DeGeneres thinks coming out is the "greatest thing" she's ever done

She told TIME Firsts: "I was warned by my publicist at the time -- everybody said, 'We could destroy this whole show.' But, you know, it's my life.

"Leading up to coming out, I wasn't trying to be political. I wasn't trying to be an activist. When I did, it just made sense that the character would come out, and it was the greatest thing that happened because it sent me on a different trajectory, and here I am now and there's no secrets. I'm not ashamed of anything."

The 'Finding Dory' star - who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama last year - admitted not everything has been plain sailing and she was left intimidated after one stand-up gig which saw her follow two acts that were "very homophobic and slamming women in every kind of way".

She recalled: "No one knew that I was gay necessarily, it was just a very angry, testosterone-filled crowd by the time I got on stage.

"The entire front row of guys got up and turned their chairs around and face the audience. It was a night that I never thought that I'd do comedy again."

"I don't know where those guys are now, but they didn't get the Medal of Freedom."

But Ellen - who is married to actress Portia De Rossi - is very proud to be open about who she is, and was never more so than when she received the presidential honour.

She added: "That the president of the United States would be talking about me being brave ... You have this one moment in time to be fully who you are. That's what I decided to do, and I got rewarded for it."

The 59-year-old talk show host revealed in 1997 that she was gay, shortly before her title character in hit sitcom 'Ellen' did the same thing, and she was initially warned she could "destroy" the show by taking it in the same direction as her personal life, but she has no regrets about anything.

She told TIME Firsts: "I was warned by my publicist at the time -- everybody said, 'We could destroy this whole show.' But, you know, it's my life.

"Leading up to coming out, I wasn't trying to be political. I wasn't trying to be an activist. When I did, it just made sense that the character would come out, and it was the greatest thing that happened because it sent me on a different trajectory, and here I am now and there's no secrets. I'm not ashamed of anything."

The 'Finding Dory' star - who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama last year - admitted not everything has been plain sailing and she was left intimidated after one stand-up gig which saw her follow two acts that were "very homophobic and slamming women in every kind of way".

She recalled: "No one knew that I was gay necessarily, it was just a very angry, testosterone-filled crowd by the time I got on stage.

"The entire front row of guys got up and turned their chairs around and face the audience. It was a night that I never thought that I'd do comedy again."

"I don't know where those guys are now, but they didn't get the Medal of Freedom."

But Ellen - who is married to actress Portia De Rossi - is very proud to be open about who she is, and was never more so than when she received the presidential honour.

She added: "That the president of the United States would be talking about me being brave ... You have this one moment in time to be fully who you are. That's what I decided to do, and I got rewarded for it."