Portia de Rossi Claims Ex Ran Off With Her Brother's Wife

Portia de Rossi says that her ex husband, documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe, left her, broke up her brother's marriage and ran off with his wife. The actress gives the details in her new memoir, 'Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain.'

De Rossi was married to Metcalf between 1996 and 1999, and she reveals in the book how she hit rock bottom when her husband left her and got together with her elder brother Michael Rogers' wife, Renee Kappos.

The Daily Mail reports de Rossi saying in the book, "When my husband left me, my brother moved into my place ... My husband ran off with his wife, so we kept each other company and we liked to go out for margaritas and Mexican food to commiserate."

De Rossi also says the signs were there of the growing relationship between Metcalf and Kappos.

"The fact that Renee would wear skimpy, lacy underwear clearly visible underneath her oversized, gaping overalls should have indicated to my brother and me that a personal partnership was also forming."

She says the breakup, followed by the betrayal of their respective spouses, left both the siblings shocked. De Rossi says, "But when Mel left me and Renee suddenly sabotaged her marriage to my brother to be with Mel, my brother and I were left idiotically scratching our heads in disbelief."

De Rossi goes on to note that Metcalf and Kappos later got married, saying, "He had married his longtime girlfriend, Renee, just before leaving Australia and the two newlyweds moved into an apartment in the same Melrose Place-style complex that was home to me and Mel."

RadarOnline reports that regardless of the family affair, de Rossi insists there is no bad blood with Metcalf.

The actress says Metcalf helped her find her true sexual orientation. "By the end of our first year together, despite my desire to be attracted to him, my latent fear of my real sexuality was simmering and about to boil," she says. "I was almost positive I was gay. So I married him."

De Rossi, 37, came out as lesbian in 2005, married talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in 2008 and officially took wife DeGeneres' last name in 2010. She is now legally known as Portia Lee James DeGeneres.