Ellen DeGeneres has spoken out about her decision to come out, saying she was scared people would stop loving her.

The star spoke in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, opening up about the process of coming out, and the fear that she would never do so.

Ellen came out in an episode of her self-titled TV series in 1997.

“I wanted to know what the inner dialogue of my subconscious mind was, and it was scary and crazy,” DeGeneres told Winfrey.

“What came out of listening to what I had been saying to myself is, ‘Would I still be famous? Would they still love me if they knew I was gay?’ And my fear was, ‘No, they wouldn’t.’

“Then it made me feel shame that I was hiding something. It made me feel shame that I couldn’t be honest and who I am. I just didn’t want to pretend to be somebody else anymore so that people would like me.”