Ellen DeGeneres Announced in Her New Special That Her Mother Has Dementia

In her latest comedy special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, Ellen makes some startling revelations about her life. The now semi-disgraced comedian and talk show host has been out of the public eye for a few years after she faced allegations that she had fostered a toxic environment on the set of her talk show.

Now, her new special has given us a peek into her recent life, including a revelation about her mother's health. Here's what Ellen says in the special about her mother and how she feels about the changes in her life.

Ellen announced in the special that her mom Betty, who was a frequent guest on her talk show, has been diagnosed with dementia and is now living in a care facility.

"My mother has dementia now, and, um … which is a horrible disease," she explained. "And so many people are dealing with it right now. My mother is lucky in the sense that she doesn't know she has it."

"So she's actually happy. She's really happy. She's in a really nice place. I have her in, uh … a facility that … They have a lot of activities to keep them stimulated," she continued.

Betty spent most of her life as an outspoken advocate and made headlines in her own right after she became the first straight spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campain's National Coming Out Project.

Betty also wrote two books, largely about her relationship with Ellen. In each book, she discusses what it was like to be a mother to such a public face of the gay rights movement in the late 1990s and also the scrutiny that she received after Ellen came out in 1997.

Betty was frequently in the audience on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and was quite close to her daughter through Ellen's tremendous success.

In addition to discussing her mother's health, Ellen also offers some details on her own health struggles in the special, announcing that she was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and osteoporosis.

She also discussed her own relationship with aging and cosmetic surgery: "I used to say that I didn't care what other people thought of me. I realize now, looking back, I said that at the height of my popularity. If I look older than when you saw me last, it's because I'm older than when you saw me last."

"And also, I stopped doing Botox and filler. … I used to do Botox back when I didn't care what other people thought of me," she added.

Ellen also explained that she was somewhat surprised by the allegations made against her suggesting that she was "mean."

"It was quite a shock to me because for 17 years, there were all these polls basically saying I was one of the most trusted people in the country," she admitted. "I was in therapy for a while trying to deal with all the hatred coming at me, and it was not a common situation for a therapist to deal with."