Is Ellen DeGeneres the New 'Mommie Dearest'?

It looks like Hollywood has found a new 'mommie dearest' in Ellen DeGeneres if a former member of her domestic staff are to be believed.

"Ellen DeGeneres ran her household like a military-style boot camp, barking orders, tormenting employees over tiny errors and 'taking pleasure' in firing people," a former staffer has told DailyMail.com in a blistering report.

"Workers were hit with an itemized daily list of trifling gripes from serving food in the wrong bowl, leaving the salt shaker in the wrong place or failing to ensure DeGeneres' latte was frothed the way she liked it," writes the Daily Mail.

Turnover is high, with employees rarely lasting a few months. In one case, "a household manager was fired just two hours into the job, according to the source."

With moves that make her sound like a latter-day Joan Crawford, DeGeneres was said to "lay traps" in ways so that she could check if cleaners were thorough in their duties.

The unnamed source told the DailyMail.com that her real personality came out at home. "She treated you like you were nothing," they said.

"Ellen was the worst person that I've ever met in my life. She takes pleasure in firing people."

The former employees claims come as the talk show host prepares to return for her new season on September 21 after major staff changes that saw three of her long-standing producers fired and promises for a kinder, gentler DeGeneres in the future in dealing with her staff. Her troubles began when last April she hired a non-Union staff to handle the technical aspects of her show when it moved to her home. She further exacerbated problems by saying that she felt as if she was in "prison" when quarantined in her multi-million dollar home. Then former guests and ex-staffers stepped forward to create an image counter to her being the Queen of Nice. DeGeneres apologized to her staff, telling them she would do better in the future.

For a full account of Ellen's troubles, follow this link.

Things have been relatively calm since the firings and the apologies, but this latest set of allegations will likely put her back in the media crosshairs.