Anne Heche died of injuries from a fiery car crash while she was an actor. She was older than 50.
Heche was taken off life support.
A representative for Heche's family and friends released a statement Thursday saying that she had been taken off of life support.
She was declared brain-dead on Friday and kept on life support while an assessment was made to see if her organs could be donated. Most organ transplants in the US are done after this determination.
She showed enough promise to be offered professional work in high school and first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera "Another World".
Heche was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films. She was part of the ensemble cast in the original "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and played opposite Johnny Depp in "Donnie Brasco" and "Volcano."
She starred with Ford in the movie "six days, seven nights" and also appeared in the movie "return to paradise" She played one of cinema's most famous murder victims in the remake of "Psycho" and also co-stars in "Walking and Talking."
Her personal and professional life changed around the same time. She and Ellen were one of the first openly gay couples in Hollywood. Heche said her career was damaged by an industry that didn't like her. Advisers opposed her decision to have the talk show host accompany her to the movie premiere.
Heche said that they were told they couldn't have pictures of them taken at the press junket.
Heche spoke candidly about her mental health struggles after she broke up with Ellen.
Heche looked weak on screen. The one-two punch of "Donnie Brasco" and "Wag the Dog" were cited by the National Board of Review when she won their 1997 best supporting actress award.
Heche called on her in a way that was effective. She played a woman who was afraid of losing her sanity in the Broadway play "Proof" in 2002. An Associated Press review praised her "touching performance, vulnerable yet funny, especially when Catherine mocks the suspicions about her mental stability."
Heche was hospitalized in the fall of 2000 after she knocked on the door of a stranger. She spoke incoherently to the people she was talking to.
Heche talked about her battles in her book. Heche said in a 2001 interview that she had been sexually abused by her father, Donald Heche, who died from AIDS. Heche thought she was descended from another planet as a result of her suffering.
Heche said that in the last days of his life, she learned he was secretly gay and that she believed his inability to live honestly fueled his anger and hurt. One of her siblings, Nathan, was killed in a car crash.
I'm not insane. It's a crazy life, but it is. Heche said it took 31 years to get the crazy out of her. I tried to escape the past by drinking. I used to smoke. I was a drug user. I had sex with others. I tried everything I could to get rid of the shame.
Heche dated Steve Martin in the 1990s, and is thought to have inspired the aspiring actor played by Heather Graham in his Hollywood spoof "Bowfinger." Coleman Laffoon was her husband from 2001 to 2009. During her relationship with James Tupper, she had another son.
Heche has worked on Broadway and on TV in the past 20 years. She was a contestant on the show in 2020 and had recurring roles on the network series.
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