Ellen DeGeneres gave Portia de Rossi a glittering ring with pink diamonds for their upcoming wedding that will air in part on DeGeneres’s talk show.

“We have set a wedding date,” said DeGeneres, who walked the red carpet with de Rossi at Friday night’s 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

De Rossi wore a green satin Lanvin gown and a Neil Lane ring on her wedding finger. The ring was a marquis cut diamond set with pink diamonds.

DeGeneres, 50, who won an Emmy for outstanding talk-show host for the fourth year in a row, announced her plans to wed longtime girlfriend de Rossi, on her show back in May, shortly after California’s Supreme Court ruled the previous ban on gay marriages as unconstitutional.

The two stars are in the midst of preparations for what DeGeneres calls “the dream wedding.”

“Planning a wedding is very stressful,” says DeGeneres. “It is crazy. My gardener is now invited.”

The comedienne remained tight-lipped on the major details of her upcoming nuptials to de Rossi, 35, only revealing that “incredible people” would be performing, and that she would air part of the ceremony on her show.

But there are no signs of any pre-wedding jitters for DeGeneres.

“I can’t wait to be married. I feel like it is long overdue,” she said. “And I think someday people will look back on this like women not having the right to vote and segregation and anything else that seems ridiculous like we all don’t have the same rights.”

The two stars began dating in December 2004

Ellen DeGeneres did it again – claiming the title of outstanding talk-show host, for the fourth year in a row – at Friday night’s 35th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, where a jubilant Tyra Banks and Rachael Ray also ended up in the winner’s circle.

“I never take this for granted,” said DeGeneres, clutching her shiny statuette. “I know every single year people joke about it.” Besides acknowledging her show staff and partner Portia de Rossi, DeGeneres also thanked her show’s fans, “amazing, amazing people.”

In something of a surprise, however, instead of Ellen’s winning a fifth consecutive Emmy as best talk show (entertainment), the accolade went to Rachael Ray. “Holy cat. That is exciting,” said the cooking host. “I really can’t breathe.”

With Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre divided up into dinner tables in the style of the Golden Globes, Banks shined center stage early on during the two-hour ceremony.

The supermodel, whose Tyra Banks Show won in the new category of informative program, was first shown in a clip delivering her TV tirade about her shape and size, which ended with her telling her detractors to kiss her behind.

In her thank-you, she reprised the message, saying that no one should ever listen to naysayers.

Banks also thanked her mother (”My mama is crying like a baby,” she exclaimed on the podium) and Oprah Winfrey, “for being the queen.”

Daytime Drama Awards

The night’s first winner was supporting actress in a drama series Gina Tognoni, of The Guiding Light, who noted the show is 71 years old this year. “I am proud of daytime,” Tognoni said, “and I pray it goes on for a million more years.”

The top drama series Emmy went to General Hospital, which also claimed Emmys for its lead actor Anthony Geary – his sixth Emmy.

Other winners included The Young and the Restless’s lead actress Jeanne Cooper (a first-time winner) and its supporting actor, Kristoff St. John (his second Emmy); Guiding Light’s Tom Pelphrey, as best younger actor (his second Emmy); and As the World Turns’s Jennifer Landon, as younger actress (her third consecutive Emmy).

Regis Recognized

Regis Philbin received a lifetime achievement award, introduced by Jimmy Kimmel, who referred to Kelly Ripa as Regis’s granddaughter. Diane Sawyer, Anderson Cooper, Don Rickles and Pat Sajak also chimed in with sentiments.

Cristina’s Court was honored as the best show with a gavel-pounding judge, another new category.

After months of rumors flying that The Riches star, Minnie Driver, is pregnant, she gladly confirmed it on the talk show circuit yesterday.
Talk show host, Jay Leno, started the conversation off by asking if she had gained some weight.

Minnie replied jokingly, “Are you calling me fat?”

When Jay asked if she was pregnant, Minnie, 38, replied, “Yes I am.”

There is still no word of the identity of the father-to-be. The actress told him that she loves being pregnant “more than anything else,” but is not liking the morning sickness so much.

She added: “I don’t know why they call it morning sickness. I am sick morning, noon and night, but it’s a fair trade-off.”

Minnie also let Ellen DeGeneres happily feel her baby bump in an episode set to air Monday.