Ellen DeGeneres never thought she would come out as lesbian

Los Angeles: Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres says she didn't think she would ever come out as a lesbian.

In a clip of "Oprah's Master Class", the 57-year-old comedian says she worried about her career downturn, reported Ace Showbiz.

"I didn't think I was going to come out, period. I didn't think I'd be coming out on a show, ever," the host of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" said.

She then revealed that she took a course called Changing the Inner Dialogue of Your Subconscious Mind "to know what the inner dialogue of my subconscious mind was." "It was scary and crazy and 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 that 'no, they wouldn't,' and then it made me feel ashamed that I was hiding something."

After taking the course, Ellen admits that she's able to accept her sexuality. "It made me feel ashamed that I couldn't feel honest and really be who I am, and I just didn't want to pretend to be somebody else anymore so that people would like me," she said. Ellen first came out publicly as a lesbian during her appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in February 1997.