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“It is a sad day. I send all my love to Anne’s children, family and friends ”, thus she said goodbye Ellen Degeneres of the actress Anne Hécheafter confirming the death of one of his great and intense loves at the end of the 90s. Heche, who used to have a sentimental relationship with the presenter, died on August 11, 2022six days after hitting a residence while speeding in a Los Angeles neighborhood.
In the midst of the tragedy, DeGeneres’s reaction was one of the most anticipated, since the love story between Anne and Ellen not only became an iconic moment for the LGBT communitybut also in one of the biggest scandals of hollywood in times when being openly gay was still not very well seen in the industry.
Their relationship was a “shake up” for both of them. On the one hand, DeGeneres came out of the closet and revealed herself as a lesbian, although the rumors of her homosexuality were already an open secret. And on the other, Heche, at the height of her professional career, suffered the consequences of the public ridicule.
This is how the relationship between Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche began
The love between the presenter and the protagonist of ‘Six days and seven nights’ started at one of the parties held after the gala of the Oscar awards on March 24, 1997, according to what Anne herself recounted in Me Crazy Street, his autobiographical book. She assured that it was love at first sight and that that night changed her life forever.
At that time, DeGeneres was triumphing on television with her show Ellenplace where he decided to communicate to the world his sexual orientation once and for all, despite the fact that his team advised him not to. It was so that on April 30 it was issued The Puppy Episodea chapter of her show in which the protagonist (played by Ellen) fell in love with a woman played by actress Laura Dern.
Since then, neither Ellen nor Anne has hidden from the spotlight, which might not seem like big news today, but 25 years ago it did cause quite a stir in Hollywood and around the world, especially as it meant a breakthrough for the LGBT collective to be represented in this way in the film industry. However, this coming out of the closet would be the beginning of the end for Anne Héche and his relationship with the famous American TV personality.
Why did Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres break up?
Between 1997 and 2000, Anne and Ellen were the couple of the moment. The actress was experiencing one of her best professional moments with titles like ‘Seven days and seven nights’ next to Harrison Ford, Donnie Brasco and the remake of ‘Psychosis‘. The love seemed strong between the two, but Hollywood was still a conservative industry and in addition to ending the romance, also trouble started for Anne.
Heche would speak about the subject only 20 years later, when in the 2020 edition of Dancing with the starsthe actress confessed to her dance partner that her relationship with DeGeneres was the cause of her decline and the end of his promising film career.
“I met Ellen DeGeneres in 1997, at a Vanity Fair party, and that was the night my life changed forever.”
That same year it was released volcano, a film in which Heche starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones. Anne recounted that at the premiere of the tape, the producer threatened her with losing her contract due to the public relationship she had with the presenter, which is why she was removed from her own party for fear that they would take pictures with Ellen.
“For the Volcano premiere I said that Ellen would be my escort, and they told me that if I took Ellen I would lose my contract with Fox,” he explained. “I took Ellen to the premiere and they took me out of there before the movie was even over. They told me that she was not allowed to go to my own party, for fear that they would take photos of me with a woman ”.
Since then, Fox determined to leave her out of its productions and spent ten years without being able to work in the cinema. Heche also recounted that when she met DeGeneres, she was still dating Steve Martin, but she had not yet realized that she was bisexual.
“I was in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres for three years, and the stigma attached to this relationship was so terrible that they terminated my contract, and I didn’t work in a studio for 10 years.”
Despite the fact that the two decided to continue dating and be more cautious with their relationship before the press, in the year 2000, Anne and Ellen agreed to an amicable breakup. Neither revealed the reasons for her separation at that time, but years later the actress implied that it was due to pressure from the industry.
Three months had passed since their breakup, when Heche began dating the cameraman coleman lafoon, with whom she had her first child, Homer. In 2006, she married her co-star, James Tupperin the series ‘Men in Trees’although they divorced in 2009. Meanwhile, in 2004, DeGeneres began dating the actress portia de rossiwith whom he married in 2008. Since then, they have not separated.
How did Anne Heche die?
On August 11, 2022, it was reported that Anne Heche lost her life at the age of 53 after having fought for his life for six days. The actress was admitted to the hospital on August 5 with severe burns and a severe brain injury after crashing into a house while driving erratically in Mar Vista, Los Angeles.
At first it had been said that the famous had ingested alcohol and drugs before getting into her Mini Cooper and hitting a house, however, the forensic report ruled out that he had harmful substances in his body before the accident.
At the time of the crash, the car caught fire and paramedics managed to get Heche out alive. However, the autopsy found that inhalation and thermal injuries were the cause of a “severe anoxic brain injury” that deprived his brain of oxygen and ultimately took his life. Upon being diagnosed with brain death, her relatives decided to withdraw her from life support.
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