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.”
Bridget Moynahan: Finding Love and Happiness after Heartbreak
Bridget Moynahan, who suffered a heartbreaking breakup with professional player Tom Brady, has at last found happiness. Everyone recalls Moynahan and Brady’s breakup after two years of dating. When Moynahan disclosed that she was three months pregnant with their child, it was a difficult moment. Moynahan’s journey as a single mother was prompted by an unexpected turn of circumstances, but she has since found love and happiness once more. Let’s explore her motivational tale!
Accepting Being a Single Mother
In a candid 2008 interview, Moynahan talked about her unanticipated experience as a single mother to Harper’s Bazaar. She yearned for a caring companion in her life, but she had never envisioned raising a child by herself. Moynahan’s pregnancy announcement was difficult to accept because of her traditional views, which include getting married before having children. “It took me a minute to realize that this was the way I was going to raise a family,” the woman remarked.
An Intricate Bond with Tom Brady
When they parted ways amicably in 2006, Moynahan’s relationship with Tom Brady took an unexpected turn. Moynahan found out she was three months pregnant shortly after the separation, but Brady had already moved on with supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Moynahan had to deal with the challenges of becoming pregnant and parenting in the spotlight. She acknowledged that this was not the life she had imagined, saying, “I don’t think anyone grows up thinking they want to be a single mom.”
Brady and Bündchen went on to have their own family, while Moynahan concentrated on raising their son Jack. More than she could have ever imagined from her modeling and acting professions, Moynahan found comfort in her job as a mother.
The Joy of Parenting
Moynahan’s 2019 book, Our Shoes, Our Selves, goes into detail about her hardships during that time. She was open about how uncomfortable she felt being in the spotlight while she was pregnant, but she accepted motherhood in spite of the difficulties. In a statement about her love of motherhood, Moynahan said, “You think he’s a genius every time he does something.” He is exceptionally intelligent. Moynahan’s life has changed since becoming a mother, and she treasures every second she spends with her kid.
A Fresh Start
When Moynahan connected with Andrew Frankel through mutual friends, her personal life began to turn around. After being engaged in 2015, they married in secret at a New York vineyard later that year. When Moynahan eventually achieved her happily ever after, a private celebration was held to honor their union. Supporters applauded Moynahan, recognizing that following her path from a public split to single parenting, she earned this pleasure.
Together with Frankel’s three sons from a previous relationship, Moynahan and Frankel have formed a blended family. Love is all around Jack, and Moynahan is thankful for the extended family he has in his life.
An Account of Fortitude
The narrative of Bridget Moynahan is one of tenacity and accepting life’s uncertainty. As a mother, she has demonstrated strength, resolute in her desire to provide her child love and support. Despite the challenges we encounter, Moynahan’s path serves as a reminder that it’s never too late to discover happiness and love.
Comment below with your thoughts on Bridget Moynahan’s amazing experience!
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