Anne Heche has died of a brain injury and severe burns after speeding and crashing her car into a home in the residential Mar Vista neighborhood last Friday, Aug 5. The building erupted in flames and Heche was dragged out of the vehicle and rushed to the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles.
The 53-year-old, Emmy Award-winning actress is best known for her roles in 1990s films like Volcano, the Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho, Donnie Brasco and Six Days, Seven Nights.
Holly Baird, a spokesperson for Heche’s family, sent NPR a statement Friday afternoon saying: “While Anne is legally dead according to California law, her heart is still beating, and she has not been taken off life support.”
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Baird added an organ procurement company is working to see if the actress is a match for organ donation, and that determination could be made as early as Saturday or as late as next Tuesday.
Heche launched her career playing a pair of good and evil twins on the long-running daytime soap opera Another World, for which she earned a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991.
In the 2000s, Heche focused on making independent movies and TV series. She acted with Nicole Kidman and Cameron Bright in the drama Birth; with Jessica Lange and Christina Ricci in the film adaptation of Prozac Nation, Elizabeth Wurtzel’s bestselling book about depression; and in the comedy Cedar Rapids alongside John C. Reilly and Ed Helms. She also starred in the ABC drama series Men in Trees.
Heche made guest appearances on TV shows like Nip/Tuck and Ally McBeal and starred in a couple of Broadway productions, garnering a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the remount of the 1932 comedy Twentieth Century.
In 2020, Heche launched a weekly lifestyle podcast, Better Together, with friend and co-host Heather Duffy and appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
Heche became a lesbian icon as a result of her highly-visible relationship with comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres in the late 1990s.
Heche and DeGeneres were arguably the most famous openly gay couple in Hollywood at a time when being out was far less acceptable than it is today. Heche later claimed the romance took a toll on her career. “I was in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres for three-and-a-half years and the stigma attached to that relationship was so bad that I was fired from my multimillion-dollar picture deal and I did not work in a studio picture for 10 years,” Heche said in an episode of Dancing with the Stars.
But the relationship paved the way for broader acceptance of single-sex partnerships.
“With so few role models and representations of lesbians in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Anne Heche’s relationship with Ellen DeGeneres contributed to her celebrity in a significant way and their relationship ultimately validated lesbian love for both straight and queer people,” said the Los Angeles-based New York Times columnist Trish Bendix.
Bendix said that while Heche was later in relationships with men — she married Coleman Laffoon in the early 2000s and they had a son together, and was more recently in a relationship with Canadian actor James Tupper with whom she also had a son — “her influence on lesbian and bisexual visibility can’t and shouldn’t be erased.”
In 2000, Fresh Air host Terry Gross interviewed Heche in advance of her directorial debut on the final episode of If These Walls Could Talk 2, a series of three HBO television films exploring the lives of lesbian couples starring DeGeneres and Sharon Stone. In the interview, Heche said she wished she had been more sensitive about other people’s coming out experiences when she and DeGeneres went public with their relationship.
“What I wish I would have known is more of the journey and the struggle of individuals in the gay community or couples in the gay community,” Heche said. “Because I would have couched my enthusiasm with an understanding that this isn’t everybody’s story.”
Heche was born in Aurora, Ohio in 1969, the youngest of five siblings. She was raised in a Christian fundamentalist household.
She had a challenging childhood. The family moved around a lot. She said she believed her father, Donald, was a closeted gay man; he died in 1983 of HIV.
“He just couldn’t seem to settle down into a normal job, which, of course, we found out later, and as I understand it now, was because he had another life,” Heche told Gross on Fresh Air. “He wanted to be with men.”
A few months after her father died, Heche’s brother Nathan was killed in a car crash at the age of 18.
In her 2001 Memoir Call Me Crazy, and in subsequent interviews, Heche said her father abused her sexually as a child, triggering mental health issues which the actress said she carried with her for decades as an adult.
In an interview with the actress for Larry King Live, host Larry King called Heche’s book, “one of the most honest, outspoken, extraordinary autobiographies ever written by anyone in show business.”
“I am left with a deep, wordless sadness,” wrote Heche’s son with Lafoon, Homer, in a statement shared with NPR via Baird. “Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.”
Katy Perry Left Little to the Imagination in a Unique Dress That Had People Buzzing
Katy Perry stunned onlookers as she walked the runway for Vogue World: Paris. However, her dress, comprised of geometric figures that left the singer half-naked, sparked comments online.
The “California Gurls”singer, now 39, made a stunning entrance in Place Vendôme, the iconic Parisian plaza, donning an archival Noir Kei Ninomiya dress adorned with geometric shapes and tulle floral embellishments on the skirt. This barely-there garment showcased plenty of Perry’s skin, but she exuded confidence and elegance as she walked around the plaza for the VIP guests in attendance.
Perry, who took everyone by surprise — including viewers watching the livestream hosted by Cara Delevingne — wore her dark hair slicked back, accentuating her striking features. Her makeup was a harmonious blend of rosy lip color and matching eyeshadow, and her look was completed with edgy lace-up boots.
Katy Perry’s walk was a highlight of the 1980s segment, which paid homage to martial arts. This year’s Vogue World event celebrated the intersection of fashion and sports, with each decade from the 1920s onward spotlighting a different sport. The show prominently featured both contemporary and historic French designers and fashion houses, emphasizing Paris’s pivotal role in the fashion world.
The event was a spectacular showcase with over 500 athletes, performers, surprise guests, and models participating. It seamlessly blended the vibrancy of sports with the elegance of fashion, creating a dynamic and memorable experience.
Videos of her runway walk were published on several fashion-focused social media channels. Opinions about her look flooded the comment sections. Most people complimented the dress on her, leaving comments like, “Katy Perry’s ability to pull off so many things is my favorite part,” and “It suits her perfectly.” But one detail that stood out was the apparent lack of plastic surgery on her body, which resulted in one commenter writing, “A natural woman. Love it.”
Katy Perry’s dazzling appearance at Vogue World: Paris is just one example of how fashion and entertainment continually intersect to create unforgettable moments. With her striking presence and fashion-forward choice, Perry once again proved why she remains a beloved icon in the industry.
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