Ellen DeGeneres was left speechless after Ashton Kutcher surprised her with a US$4 million (NZ$5.8m) gift for her namesake Wildlife Fund. Photo / Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres was left speechless after Ashton Kutcher surprised her with a US$4 million (NZ$5.8m) gift for her namesake Wildlife Fund. Photo / Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres was left speechless after Ashton Kutcher surprised her with a US$4 million (NZ$5.8m) gift for her namesake Wildlife Fund.
The actor, 40, and manager Guy Oseary appeared on Wednesday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where they offered her the generous amount on behalf of the company Ripple.
Ashton and Guy are both Ripple investors, and the actor said he was compelled to give Ellen the money after hearing about her passion for the wildlife fund, which was given to her as a birthday gift by her wife Portia de Rossi, according to the Daily Mail.
'I ran into you on the beach, and you told me about this amazing birthday gift that you got from Portia, and you explained to me that if you weren't doing this, that would you would be working on is that project, right?' Ashton said.
'Yeah I would be saving the gorillas, yes,' Ellen replied.
'But you never ask anyone for anything ever,' Ashton added. 'And you said at one point, "I'm going to need some help with this", and I said, "You're asking me for help?" You never ask anyone for help ever! And at the same time you called him!'
'It was on your birthday,' Guy said. 'You called me on your birthday and I was like, "Wow, she's calling me on her birthday, is everything okay?"
Ellen DeGeneres was left speechless after Ashton Kutcher surprised her with a US$4 million (NZ$5.8m) gift for her namesake Wildlife Fund. Photo / Ellen
'And you wanted to share with me this incredible story, the gift of a lifetime that Portia gave you, and I promised you on that call that I'd be there to help you, and we are brothers,' he said, gesturing to Ashton. 'And we're here to help you.'
Moved by her generosity, Ashton explained he spoke with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive Chris Larsen to help fund Ellen's dream.
'And so we talked to Chris and Brad and we said, "There's this amazing human being, and all they ever do is think about other people they can give to, whether it's in New Orleans, where it's Montecito, whether it's the people that come here, the people out there, you're always thinking about everyone else.
'And we wanted to show you that people are thinking about you. So on behalf of ripple, we'd like to give you four million dollars.'
Ellen was speechless and even appeared emotional after the extremely thoughtful gesture.
'Oh my God, that was the most amazing thing,' Ellen gushed. 'Thank you, I love you both so much.'
Portia moved Ellen to tears earlier in February, when she surprised her with the wildlife fund gift for her 60th birthday.
'That is the best gift that anyone could have given me,' Ellen said.
