By Scottie Andrew and Chloe Melas, CNN
(CNN) — Anne Heche, a captivating actress whose versatility propelled an admirable career in television and film for four decades, is no longer on life support.
“Anne Heche has been peacefully removed from life support,” a representative for the actress’ family told CNN on Sunday evening.
Heche’s car crashed into a Los Angeles home and caught fire on August 5. After the crash, Heche suffered a “severe anoxic brain injury,” depriving his brain of oxygen, among other serious injuries from the accident, his family and friends said in a statement to CNN.
Heche, an award-winning actor, appeared in films like the 1998 remake of “Psycho” and the romantic comedy “Six Days Seven Nights” alongside Harrison Ford. She also directed a segment of a 2000 HBO film “If These Walls Could Talk 2” and in her 2001 memoir she revealed her lifelong struggles with mental illness after being abused by her father.
In 1987, Heche made her television debut in the soap opera “Another World”, a role for which she won a Daytime Emmy. After leaving the show, she began her film career, appearing in acclaimed films such as “Donnie Brasco” and “Wag the Dog.”
When Heche and Ellen DeGeneres started dating in 1997 — around the same time DeGeneres dated in real life and on her titular sitcom — they quickly became one of the world’s most famous same-sex couples. . The two separated in 2000.
Last year, Heche told Page Six that her relationship with DeGeneres had resulted in her losing roles, calling herself “cancel culture’s patient zero.”
Still, she said, she saw herself as “part of the change” that helped normalize same-sex relationships in the mainstream culture.
“I’m part of it,” she told Page Six. “It’s a badge of honor.”
In her 2001 memoir, “Call Me Crazy”, she said her father sexually abused her as a child and she suffered from mental illness for much of the first 30 years of her life. She told CNN’s Larry King in an interview that year that her personality had fragmented between herself and a personality she had invented as a child to accommodate abuse.
“I had to go through a lot of life to get to where I am now,” she told King. “I had to see some truths and get over the shame, and I’m so grateful for every step I took. I don’t think I could have dealt with it sooner.”
In 2004, Heche appeared on Broadway in “Twentieth Century,” for which she was nominated for a Tony. In recent years, Heche has returned to television, appearing in series like “The Brave,” “Quantico,” and “Chicago PD.” In 2020, she participated in the 29th season of “Dancing with the Stars”.
Heche’s peers in Hollywood responded to news of his accident with support. Her ex-partner and ‘Men in Trees’ co-star James Tupper, with whom she shares one of her two sons, wrote on Instagram: “Thoughts and prayers for this lovely wife, actresses and mother tonight Anne Heche . We love you. “
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia company. All rights reserved.