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From The Sunday Times
January 9, 2005

Hollywood lesbian affair ends with duel on the legal frontier

John Harlow, Los Angeles
HELL hath no fury like a Hollywood lesbian scorned. The former girlfriend of Ellen DeGeneres is considering legal action against both the comedian and her new lover, the Ally McBeal actress Portia de Rossi, in a case that could redraw the boundaries of romantic strife in America.

Alexandra Hedison, 35, is said to have been shocked after 46-year-old DeGeneres asked her to leave the Los Angeles home they had shared for four years. De Rossi, 31, moved in before Christmas. Hedison is now taking advice from Trope and Trope, a Los Angeles law firm that has represented stars from Cary Grant to Jennifer Lopez. Its lawyers have shown how she could seek revenge and riches with a “twin attack” on the new couple.

DeGeneres met de Rossi on a photo-shoot last summer. At that point de Rossi, the ice-cool lawyer Nelle in Ally McBeal, was preparing to “marry” her girlfriend Francesca Gregorini, the stepdaughter of Ringo Starr. They broke up last month.

Legal sources say Hedison, a photographer, could file legal papers this spring, beginning with a palimony action against DeGeneres. But Hedison is also said to be considering suing de Rossi for “alienation of affection”, a legal stratagem dating back to frontier days when seducing a spouse was regarded as theft.

“She would have to prove the seduction took place in those states which still recognise the law, like on holiday in Hawaii,” said Richard Barry, of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “If she can do that, she could cause a lot of financial damage.”

DeGeneres, meanwhile, has moved to crush speculation about tensions with her ex-lover. “I still love and care tremendously for her and we are working together on the ending of our relationship on that level and intend to keep it private,” she said in a statement.

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