ellen degeneres and portia de rossiEllen DeGeneres has confirmed that Justin Timberlake was set to play at her wedding to Portia De Rossi - but Ryan Seacrest talked her out of it.

Speaking on Ryan’s radio show this week, Ellen explained that Justin volunteered to write and perform a song especially for the happy couple and “that made [the guest list] get bigger”: “We said, ‘He can’t just sing for our Aunt Helen from Mississippi! We got invite some more!’”

Then George Michael agreed to sing too: “It just got bigger and bigger. It was going to be gigantic, but Ryan talked us out of it.

“I truly believe people get carried away with the volume of the wedding that they don’t enjoy the purpose of the wedding.

“It started from the wrong place. We called and disinvited everyone. They totally understood.”

The couple eventually dropped around 200 people from the guest list so that just around 20 close family and friends observed the August ceremony at their Beverly Hills home.

Ellen added that married life “is fantastic”: “I think until you’re married you don’t know. You can have a commitment in your heart but there’s something about getting married.”