Body Language Expert Breaks Down Cringy Ellen DeGeneres Interview
After Dakota Johnson showed up on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show in 2019 and called her out over an ignored birthday party invitation, the clip went viral for all the obvious reasons. For anyone who wasn’t a fan of the comedian — get in line, kids, don’t push — the cringe encounter was a delicious slice of schadenfreude.
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The conversation was all kinds of awkward, and to add to DeGeneres’ pain, Cosmopolitan decided to take a deeper dive with the help of a body language expert. It’s not enough to know that DeGeneres was suffering, Cosmo seemed to be saying — let’s calculate exactly how much.
Go ahead and watch the TikTok as a refresher. As you’ll see, the discomfort never occurs if DeGeneres didn’t offer Johnson a passive-aggressive congratulations on her 30th birthday. “How was the party?” DeGeneres asked. “I wasn’t invited.”
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“Actually, that’s not the truth, Ellen,” Johnson replied calmly. “You were invited. Last time I was on the show, last year, you gave me a bunch of (bleep) about not inviting you.”
And we’re off to the races! Body language guru Blanca Cobb noticed DeGeneres’ discomfort from the get-go: “So the right leg is crossed over her left leg, and that leg — the way she has it — serves like a barrier between her and Dakota, so it’s like a psychological barrier as well as a physical barrier.”
As it became clear that everyone on the show’s staff knew about the invite, DeGeneres’ uneasiness jumped up a notch. It slowly dawned on her that she did know about the party but chose not to go, inventing funny-ish excuses in real time. Check out how DeGeneres is “rubbing her fingers either on the armrest or on the leg,” Cobb said, a signal that she was “self-soothing.”
Johnson admitted that she hadn’t invited DeGeneres to the previous year’s party because she was unclear whether the comedian liked her or not. “Of course I like you. You knew I liked you!” protested DeGeneres. “You’ve been on the show many times and don’t I show... like?”
But, Cobb noted, isn’t it weird that Ellen wasn’t smiling? That’s usually what happens when one person says they like another one. Dubious!
The conversation took yet another clumsy turn when Johnson revealed that Tig Notaro not only showed up at the party but performed as well. “She’s my favorite comedian,” Johnson said to the comedian sitting across from her.
Oof. That was the point when DeGeneres pulled the conversational plug, explained Cobb. “She turned her head, she looked away from Dakota, and then she looked down with her eyes a little bit. She was definitely disconnecting and disengaging, and obviously, when you’re turning away from somebody, you don’t like what they’re saying.”
Let’s be real, Cosmo — we didn’t need a body-language expert to understand that DeGeneres wanted to crawl under a rock mid-interview. But when it comes to this particular comedian, everyone likes to pile on.
