Portia de Rossi and Francesca Gregorini were first photographed together by the paparazzi in 2001 quietly canoodling in an alleyway.
A famous and beautiful actress, and the sassy rock-singer daughter of a Bond girl (and step-daughter of a Beatle, no less), together. In love! The celebrity lesbian-couple void left by the very public Anne/Ellen and Melissa/Julie breakdowns was all but forgotten.
However, since those initial revelations about Portia and Francesca, the two women have conducted themselves and their relationship with a level of dignity and grace that has, possibly, re-written the book on how to be publicly in love with someone of the same gender.
But Portia and Francesca have approached things a little differently — a kind-of hybrid method of the old ways. As anyone knows, love is not always a feeling that can be kept a secret, nor is it usually able to withstand the intense scrutiny of the public spotlight.
After the news first hit the airwaves, Portia and Francesca seemed to ignore all requests for interviews that might involve questions about their relationship. But they also began to appear together in public, with a complete lack of fuss, holding hands and wearing engagement-type rings on their left ring fingers.
Later, they continued to ignore requests for interviews, but kept appearing in public. And since then, they`ve kept on appearing. And kept on ignoring. Appearing. Ignoring. Appearing. Ignoring. And all the while, they have continued to look cozy, in love, and best of all, oblivious to what all the fuss is about.
The truth is, the fuss over their relationship has never reached anything like the kind of fever pitch you`d get if you called a press conference or appeared on a chat show to formally warble to the whole world that you`re a lesbian. And yet, everyone knows that they are together.
"It sounds so trite, but my private life is mine," Portia told an Australian newspaper in May. "When you have the paparazzi hiding in the bushes outside your home, about the only thing you can control is how you respond publicly. When I hear celebrities talking about their marriages or other things that are intensely personal, I cringe. I just think, `Keep it to yourself`. It`s like desperate attention-seeking."
The end result is that Portia and Francesca are keeping the details of their relationship private and dignified, but the existence of their relationship very much public — lulling the media into a new kind of submission and forcing them and everyone else to accept their personal lives with a new level of maturity.
Portia and Francesca got engaged.
Portia, 31, left Francesca Gregorini, stepdaughter of Ringo Starr, earlier December 2004, for Ellen DeGeneres, and is understood to be removing all traces of her previous lover after their split.
Pagesix.com reported that the Aussie Ally McBeal star has now booked in to see a dermatologist and have the tattoo `FG` removed from her ring finger. She is now understood to have moved in with chat show host Ellen, in LA.

Upload a Photo | View All Photos (67)

Portia De Rossi and Francesca Gregorini have no fans yet!

Add this couple to My Favorites

Saving...

Saved!

Top editors for this profile:

• little_queen - 540 points (55 edits)
• rats - 5 points (1 edits)

Who's Dated Who content is contributed and edited by our readers. Please report errors or omissions on this page.