Ellen DeGeneres has been a subject of controversy after a number of staff members claimed that they were mistreated while working on The Ellen Show.
Now, a former producer, Hedda Muskat, has claimed that she was "emotionally abused" while in the show's employment.
Muskat made the revelations today on the Australian breakfast program Sunrise, explaining that she worked on the show's debut season in 2003 before she was "fired for no reason".
Watch Muskat make her claims in an interview with Inside Edition:"I was more emotionally abused, fired for no reason... they told me that they were just going to take the show in a different direction. They ended up giving my job to a guy I trained who was about 24 years old and had no experience," Muskat said on Sunrise, per the Daily Mail.
Muskat explained that her problems began when she refused to give up the names of her sources to maintain her journalistic integrity when called into the office of executive producer Ed Glavin.
"From that moment I was on the hit list and no longer invited to staff meetings... wasn't allowed to sit at their table at the Emmy's - it was a very egg-shell environment," she said.
Muskat said that Ellen's behavior was bad from the beginning and that she would often "snarl" when employees came into her office.
"When you walk into her office for example, to pitch her your segments, there was always a snarl. I always felt that I was never welcomed in her office, she always hurried me, 'like get to the point, get to the point,'" Muskat said.
The producer said that after a few months, she was no longer allowed to go into Ellen's office.
Muskat added that when she brought her daughter into work to introduce her to Ellen, she was "shown so much disrespect".
"She just snarled again, walked by and I was flabbergasted, she didn't even make eye contact," Muskat said.
"I was told later to no longer bring my daughter to work... I was told... 'she doesn't want kids in the office.'"
Muskat is the first producer from the show to put her name to claims that she was mistreated while working there.
This comes after the popular TV host subsequently issued a public apology for her behavior.
The talk show host explained that in an ideal world, she'd have delivered the apology in person "if not for Covid" in a letter first cited by the Hollywood Reporter.
DeGeneres said in the letter: "On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness - no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect."
"Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it's the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show."
The 62-year-old explained that as the show's popularity increased, she made sure others did "their jobs as they knew I'd want them done".
"Clearly some didn't," she continued. "That will now change and I'm committed to ensuring this does not happen again."