Ellen DeGeneres says she doesn't feel she made a mistake when she revealed she is a lesbian more than a decade ago.

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The Emmy Award-winning star of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" discussed in an interview to air on Tuesday's edition of the "Today" show her decision to publicly confirm her sexual orientation in 1997.

Asked by co-anchor Ann Curry if she thought she had made a mistake in doing so, DeGeneres replied:

"No. Absolutely not.

"It's the best -- because I'm free. I'm completely able to be exactly who I am," DeGeneres said.

"Everybody knows who's gay in this business. Let's face it. I mean, we could sit here, if the cameras weren't rolling, and name all the people that we know are gay in this business. So if it wasn't public knowledge, and I was sitting here having this interview because I'm selling my book, I would be scared to death that you were gonna catch me in something. I'd be scared to death that you're gonna ask me and I'd be figuring out how I'm gonna dodge that, and what I'm gonna say. And just, it's so ridiculous. And so to have to hide anything is just a horrible way to live. And I think you're selling your soul to the devil to just to have fame and have money and have, you know, whatever."

DeGeneres is on the promotion trail for her new book "Seriously ... I'm Kidding."