Sick Ellen DeGeneres delays Australia trip

Ellen Degeneres has delayed her highly anticipated trip to Australia as she recovers from the flu. Photo / AP

Ellen DeGeneres will not be flying into Australia this weekend as expected and will instead remain in her Los Angeles sickbed.

Warner Brothers, the production company behind The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has confirmed the star will now arrive in Sydney at the end of next week rather than the reported Sunday arrival.

"The Ellen DeGeneres Show will delay its arrival into Australia by a few days while Ellen recovers from the flu," said a statement reported in Fairfax Media.

"Ellen will meet her fans in Sydney later next week, and will then come to Melbourne.

"More announcements about the trip will be made in coming days."

The Emmy-winning chat show host had already cancelled episodes of her LA talk show due to ill health during the week, including her final show ahead of her scheduled departure to Australia.

The delayed plans of the 55-year-old TV personality and her wife, Australian actress Portia de Rossi, have sent social diaries into a spin.

The couple were expected to attend a black tie cocktail party in Melbourne on Tuesday, among other social engagements.

DeGeneres was also reported to meet Prime Minister Julia Gillard during the day to discuss the highly emotive issue of gay marriage.

The chat show host said she was trying to get herself better before her big trip.

"Trying to get over a bug before I go to Australia. Nobody wants to be down under the weather," DeGeneres tweeted on Tuesday.

"Between my humidifier and Portia making me tea non-stop, there's so much steam coming from our house people think we picked the new Pope," she posted in a tweet a day earlier.

DeGeneres' Australian adventure has been 12 months in the making.

- AAP