Kat Perkoff was the young Ellen DeGeneres' first love, her first real relationship. It ended in tragedy.

In the late 1970s Louisiana native, the now besieged Ellen DeGeneres was living in New Orleans. She was only around 20-years-old. What was she up to? Well, Ellen did a bit of college at the University of New Orleans, dropped out, and mooched around working as a waitress, bartender, house painter, and an oyster shucker. Oysters are big in New Orleans. Even then, her future beckoned with occasional stand-up comedy appearances in local coffee houses. Somewhere along the line, she met Kathy Perkoff.

Larger than life Kat Perkoff was well-known in the lesbian demi-monde of New Orleans' French Quarter. She and the troubled Ellen DeGeneres met, fell in love, and moved in together.

In 1980, the two had a spat and separated. One night after trying unsuccessfully to persuade Ellen to come home, Kat drove off into the night and died when her car hit a tree.

Then, stories began surfacing that the "accident" was no accident.

Ellen somehow kept going. As we will see her career blossomed, in large part due to her reaction to Kat's death.

Let's take a look at the romance between talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Kat Perkoff. Kat was Ellen's first real love.

Ellen's First Real Love

Believe it or not, there was a time when Ellen hid her sexuality. She dated men until she was in her 20s. Then came Kathy ("Kat"). They met in New Orleans when Ellen was studying at the University of New Orleans in the late 1970s. Ellen soon left school to do things like wait tables and shuck oysters. It wasn't long before she was doing her stand-up comedy routines in local coffee houses and clubs. Kat managed a gay bar for a time.

Kat's younger sister Rachel, now a real estate agent in New Orleans, describes Kat as "a charismatic and passionate person".

Says Rachel: "They were two very creative people, crazy and young and very much in love." And Rachel believes Ellen had a settling influence on Kat, helping her to focus on what she loved doing, namely writing poetry.

Kat and Ellen were into the gay scene in New Orleans and were often seen at "Charlene's", a lesbian bar. Charlene Schneider, the owner, says that the two appeared to be very seriously into one another.

A Tragic Ending

Early in the summer of 1980, Kat and Ellen had a falling out and Ellen moved out to live with friends. When Ellen showed up for a concert her brother's band was giving, so did Kat, begging her to come home.

Ellen pretended she couldn't hear her over the loud music. Frustrated, Kat left and drove away into the night. Minutes later she was dead when her car hit a tree and, literally, split in two. On her way home, Ellen drove by the spot just after it happened. She simply passed by, not realizing it was Kat in the car.

Rachel Perkoff has said: "When she found out, you can imagine how shocked she was." Ellen was a mess.

After her death, friends admitted that Kat had a "live hard, die young" attitude. And it emerged that she was also a drug dealer who had dated her father's girlfriend for a while. And even more shocking, the fact that she had been married to a man she refused to live with came out. Did she have enemies? You bet.

Was It An Accident Or Murder?

Kat's mother and sister Rachel are, to this day convinced that Kat was murdered. They claim that her drug-dealing activities p****d off the New Orleans Mafia and she was "bumped off" because of it. Seems even the police and one or two witnesses at the scene had some doubts as to what had happened.

Ralph Whalen, a former New Orleans assistant district attorney has said: "Talk in the community was that it had been a [mob] hit - that she was killed."

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Over the years, Ellen's serial love life has been in the spotlight. But she never forgot Kat and stayed in touch with Rachel. In 2008 when Rachel was raising funds to make a documentary to tell the true story of Kat's life and death, Ellen supported her.

A Phone Call To God

A couple of years ago, Ellen appeared in an Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast. Surprisingly, she opened up about Kat's death and its aftermath. By 2018 her love life had found its happy ending and she was happily married to Portia de Rossi.

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She said of Kat: “I was living with her, and when she was killed, I couldn’t afford to live where we were living together. So, I moved into this tiny little basement apartment that I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor infested with fleas. I thought, why is this beautiful, 21-year-old girl gone and fleas are here? And I just thought it would be amazing if we could pick up the phone and call up God and ask questions and actually get an answer.”

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So she wrote down her "Phone Call to God" routine that in 1986 propelled her to stardom on The Johnny Carson Show. And the rest, as they say, is history. Well, it has to be admitted that with all the negative press she has been getting 2020 hasn't been one of Ellen's best years.

NEXT: 5 Celebs Who Have Ellen DeGeneres' Back (& 5 Who Definitely Don't)