Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's California mansion burgled

Police are investigating possible links to other break-ins at celebrity homes nearby

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were burgled earlier this month, police have said.

According to local officials, the married couple’s home in Montecito, in Santa Barbara County, California, was targeted due to its status as a home to a number of celebrities.

KEYT, a network licensed to Santa Barbara, said that “high-value jewellery and watches” were taken when the house was burgled on 4 July.

Law enforcement officials are reportedly working to see if there is a link with similar break-ins to celebrity homes in the area.

In October 2018, the homes of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Alanis Morissette and David Spade were said to have been robbed.

Detectives are said to be investigating the crime with forensic technicians.

DeGeneres, 62, has been posting regular videos of herself in the mansion during lockdown. She has been presenting parts of her TV series, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, from there, also.

The host was criticised after comparing lockdown to “being in jail”, with one person replying: “Ellen, you quarantining in your mansion in designer sweats is nothing like prison.”

Earlier this month, reps for the host’s production company said that there were no plans to cancel her chat show despite reports of low ratings.

DeGeneres, who is is reportedly worth $330m (£264m). also found herself at the centre of “mean” accusations, with many people who claim to have worked for the presenter sharing stories of her alleged off-set behaviour.

The stories began circulating after comedian Kevin T Porter told Twitter he would donate $2 to a food bank in Los Angeles for every “insane story” his followers repeated about DeGeneres, whom he branded “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”.

DeGeneres, who married Arrested Development actor de Rossi in 2008, declined to comment.