Ellen DeGeneres Joins #MeToo Movement: 'As Hard As This Is To Talk About, At Least We're Talking About It'

Reignited by Alyssa Milano in the wake of the many sexual misconduct claims made against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the trend has shone a light on the hardships suffered by many, including DeGeneres.

"I applaud them all, I think it's brave, and I think it's important to speak out and not be shamed by anyone," the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" host said Wednesday. "It is not always easy, but we have to do that, and that is why I posted and I will say it right now out loud -- me too."

Milano's call to participate in the movement began Sunday when she tweeted, "If all women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me Too' as a status, we might give people a sense of magnitude of the problem."

"This is not a male thing or a female thing," DeGeneres said. "It is not a Hollywood thing or a political thing. This is a human thing. And it happens in the workplace, it happens in families, it happens all over the world, and we are all the same. We all want the same thing -- we want respect and love and kindness. And if I could have those three things and a new iPhone 10, I would be complete. All I ask for."

DeGeneres went on to say she believes the problem starts with young girls being "taught to stay quiet and be nice and that boys are stronger and [girls] are somehow less than."

"That is why it's hard for us to speak out, and even when we do speak out, people don't believe us," she said. "But there is power in numbers, and good for us. Good for everyone speaking out. I want to say thank you for everybody for speaking out."

The comedian joked about not knowing whether to "like," "heart" or "thumbs up" someone's #MeToo post.

"I'm not sure about the etiquette, but I do know that hell hath no fury like a woman with a Twitter account," she said, "so you have to be careful about what you tweet because if you see a tweet that says, 'I can't wait to see the new Star Wars movie,' and then you respond, 'Me, too,' it means something completely different now."

"As hard as this is to talk about, at least we are talking about it," she added. "It's not like this is a new thing. It has been going on forever, and thanks to being connected to social media, we can see it for what it is and that we are not alone. Hopefully conversations that we're having now will free all of us. If you're a parent, you can break the cycle and teach our little girls and our little boys that girls should be strong, boys should be kind."

Watch her full monologue below: