Anne Heche, the Daytime Emmy-winner who starred in movies alongside some of Hollywood’s top actors during the 1990s, is legally dead a week after crashing her car into a Southern California home.
The 53-year-old actress was still on life support Friday as medical professionals assessed if any of her organs could be donated. But she was “brain dead,” which is the legal definition of death in California.
“Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend,” representative Holly Baird told the Daily News on behalf of Heche’s family and friends. “Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy.”
Heche’s son, 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, issued a statement to media outlets on behalf of himself and his brother, Atlas Tupper 13.
“My brother Atlas and I lost our mom,” Laffoon said. “After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness. Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.”
Heche was hospitalized Aug. 5 after she smashed her car into a house and the vehicle caught on fire, requiring nearly 60 firefighters to put out the blaze. Officials said her car came to a stop inside the home in Los Angeles’ Mar Vista neighborhood.
Shortly before crashing into the house, Heche struck an apartment complex garage with her blue Mini Cooper before speeding away, TMZ reported. Footage posted on the website showed a car fitting that description zooming down a residential road.
On Thursday Heche’s representatives announced that she was never regained consciousness and was unlikely to recover from her crash injuries.
“While Anne is legally dead according to California law, her heart is still beating, and she has not been taken off life support so that One Legacy can see if she is a match for organ donation,” Baird told The News.
“It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she’s being kept on life support to determine if any are viable.”
Heche’s blood was drawn in the hospital, the Los Angeles Police Department told The News.
Police found cocaine in Heche’s system, and possibly the opioid fentanyl, according to TMZ. She was reportedly not under the influence of alcohol.
No other injuries were reported, but the crash left the home “completely burned,” according to an online fundraiser set up for the woman who was living there.
Born in Aurora, Ohio, Heche rose to fame as a star of the soap opera “Another World,” on which she played twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love from 1987 to 1991. The performance earned Heche the Daytime Emmy for outstanding younger actor in a drama series in 1991.
Heche became a big-screen staple later in the decade, starring with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp in the 1997 crime drama “Donnie Brasco”; with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in the classic slasher flick “I Know What You Did Last Summer” that same year; and with Harrison Ford in the action-comedy “Six Days, Seven Nights” in 1998.
“I’m very sad to hear of the tragic passing of Anne Heche,” Robert De Niro said in a statement. “She was a wonderful actress and I enjoyed working with her tremendously in ‘Wag the Dog.'”
She had leading roles on television on the comedy-drama series “Men in Trees” from 2006-08 and HBO’s “Hung” from 2009-11.
The actress’ personal life and off-screen antics garnered her more notoriety than her work.
She grabbed international attention for her relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres, which lasted from 1997 to 2000. A day after announcing their breakup, Heche unexpectedly showing up at a stranger’s home and allegedly asking to take a shower and watch a movie there, according to People Magazine.
“This is a sad day,” DeGeneres tweeted Friday. “I’m sending Anne’s children, family and friends all of my love.”
Heche told ABC News in 2001 that she struggled with mental illness for years after being sexually abused by her father.
“I’m not crazy,” Heche told Barbara Walters. “But it’s a crazy life. I was raised in a crazy family and it took 31 years to get the crazy out of me.”
Heche was married to real estate broker Coleman “Coley” Laffoon from 2001 to 2009, and also had a long-term relationship with “Men in Trees” co-star James Tupper that ended in 2018.
The actress received her lone Primetime Emmy nomination in 2004 for the Lifetime film “Gracie’s Choice.” Heche appeared in nearly 100 film and TV roles during her career.
