Taylor Swift once wrote a "big cheque" for a children's hospital "without blinking an eye"

The 'Grey's Anatomy' star - who has been married to music producer Chris Ivery since 2007 - said on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show': "At the time, Chris and I, we do a lot of volunteering for Children's Hospital Los Angeles here and they have an amazing programme at Children's where they make music for the babies in the NICU and for the parents who have to go to work all day and they can't be with the kids.

"They record their voices singing nursery rhymes or telling them stories and they play it for the babies in the day when the parents can't be there. The babies respond to it and it makes their outcomes more positive."

Ellen eventually approached Taylor and asked whether she could make a donation to the hospital.

And the chart-topping star didn't have any hesitations about supporting the programme.

The actress shared: "I just got up the hooks and asked Taylor, 'Could you write me a big old cheque for Children's?' and she knew me all but 20 minutes and that girl wrote me the biggest cheque without blinking an eye."

Meanwhile, Ellen has admitted that she gets "a lot of points" from her kids for starring in Taylor's music video.

The TV star - who has Stella, 15, Sienna, ten, and Eli, eight, with Chris - revealed that her children are big fans of the pop star.

Ellen said: "I do get a lot of points for that. That got me so much mileage with both of the girls for a stretch."

The actress didn't actually know Taylor before appearing in her music video. However, Ellen relished the experience of working with the 'Blank Space' hitmaker.

She explained: "Taylor is such a good girl and I didn't know her and she invited me to be in the video and I thought, 'Oh that would be fun.'

"I went and did the video, it was the easiest thing, like an hour or two."