It wasn’t all that long ago that Ellen DeGeneres was everybody’s favorite person. Between her comedic style and her talk show, it just seemed as if she was getting more and more popular.

At one point, however, some of her former staffers said that she produced a toxic workplace environment for those behind the scenes. This was a scandal that affected her on a personal and professional level.

It has been a number of years since that time but in Santa Rosa, California recently, she defended herself in a standup show. She said: “I am many things, but I am not mean.”

She went on to admit that she can be impatient, demanding, and tough and she is a strong woman but she is not a mean person. Despite the fact that it was difficult for her to go through such a scandal, she said that it did have an impact on her self-esteem and helped her to break down some walls. It was challenging but she has started to recover and can now even joke about it.

Ellen seems to be opening up more frequently about the scandal and the accusations that were levied against her. She said that she didn’t want media coverage to paint the entire picture, so she tended to avoid it and that affected her mental health.

She also addresses much of this in her upcoming standup special, which will be released this fall on Netflix. This return to standup comedy will allow her to address those allegations and to do so in a way that provides entertainment.