Portia De Rossi's Ellen Nerves

Portia de Rossi was too nervous to date now-wife Ellen DeGeneres.

The 'Arrested Development' actress said she fell for the talk show host the first time she "laid eyes on her", but couldn't bring herself to ask her out.

Portia, 36, said: "I just walked over to say hello to her and I couldn't believe it, but she turned around and it was like an arrow was shot through my heart.

"I was weak at the knees and I was overwhelmed with how I felt. But then it took me about 10 months to get the courage up to do something about it."

Portia de Rossi's Ellen nerves

Portia - who married Ellen in 2008 - says it took her a long time to open up to the 41-year-old comedienne about how she felt because she was worried about the public response to her sexuality.

She said: "It took me three years to actually tell her how I felt about her, because I was on 'Ally McBeal' at that time and I was not living as an openly gay person.

"I was closeted and very, very afraid that if I talked about being gay it would be the end of my career. So I wasn't about to then date the most famous lesbian in the world."