Anne Heche says relationship with Ellen DeGeneres cost her a "multi-million dollar picture deal"
Aux Features Film
Anne Heche was sent packing on last night’s episode of Dancing With The Stars, but not before opening up about a much-publicized part of her life and career. In 1997, at the height of her stardom, the actor entered into a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, who had famously come out as a lesbian that same year. A casual look at Heche’s filmography is all it takes to see the impact the romance—one of very few open same-sex relationships in Hollywood at the time—had on her career, but the discrimination she faced went beyond dashed acting opportunities.
Speaking to her dance partner, Keo Motsepe, Heche alleged that she was forbidden from bringing DeGeneres to the premiere for 1997's Volcano. “I was told if I took Ellen I would lose my Fox contract,” she said. “At that moment, [Degeneres] took my hand and said, ‘Do what they say’ and I said, ‘No thanks.’ I took Ellen to the premiere and I was ushered out before the movie even ended and was told I was not allowed to go to my own after party for fear that they would get pictures of me with a woman.”
Heche goes on to say that she lost her “multi-million dollar picture deal” and “did not work in a studio picture for 10 years.” It’s likely the intense scrutiny she faced factored into her 2000 mental break, which saw her wind up on the doorstep of a woman in Fresno on an evening hat was covered breathlessly by the tabloids. Since then, she’s rebuilt her career in Hollywood, TV, and theater.
Still, Heche believes she made the right call in standing by her relationship. “I am proud that I took a stand early in my life for LGBTQ rights, and I would do it again, even knowing its consequences on my career,” she said in a recent interview with Mr. Warburton Magazine.
The A.V. Club has reached out to Disney, which now owns Fox, for comment, but we have yet to receive a response. We’ll update the story if we do.
94 Comments
I took Ellen to the premiere and I was ushered out before the movie even endedShe was easy to conceal in the crowd of other people walking out of the movie.
That movie sounded ridiculous, but its trailer was pretty awesome.“Please stay calm.”
BOOM
“LOST” -er- “VOLCANO”
It actually ends on the implication that the volcano has forever cured racism in Los Angeles, as everyone notices they look the same covered in ash.
I haven’t seen the movie (I was fan of the other similarly themed movie of 1997, Dante’s Peak) and I don’t know if you are joking or not. That really sounds like something a bad movie would include thinking it was a deep insight on racism.
That’s really how it ends, and some small child gives a pronouncement that kills all the racism in Los Angeles.
“They all look the same.”I imagine that the stench of vomit was fresh in theaters afterwards.
“We all look the same.”“Huh, that’s true. Except that guy, he’s wearing a turban. Get ‘im!”
Is that where South Park got that bit where Chef comes back from vacation, finds everyone covered in ash (resembling blackface) and tells everyone to line up so he can whoop their asses?
In fairness they’d thought it was going to be the volcano movie with Pearse Brosnan
Is “Ellen” some new TikTok slang for homophobia? Because it kind of sounds like homophobia cost her that picture deal.
Given that homophobia tanked Ellen’s career around the turn of the century, and Laura Dern’s said repeatedly she got backlash for being in the Puppy episode, it’s not really surprising that the ‘phobes got to Heche.we still don’t have massive movie stars who are out and gay.
Does Kristen Stewart count?
Bi! And we’ve certainly had openly bi women who are already Hollywood royalty and only seen to date men in public stay succesful (Jolie, Barrymore). Whether KStew is still/will again be massive is debatable, IMO.
Ellen Page!
I think Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart may disagreeMassive is hard to qualify but you also have Ian McKellen, Zarachy Quinto, George Takie, Ezra Miller etcThere can always been more and I would love to see more trans and non-binary representation in Hollywood but I like to think we have come a long way since 1997
Jodie Foster has acted in 1 movie since coming out and it had a budget of $15M. Stewart is bisexual.George Takei has not acted in a blockbuster since coming out. Miller is queer, although I do find their continued career encouraging. It is also encouraging that Quinto keeps doing being Star Trek movies, though it’s the only big-budget role he’s had since coming out. I do think we’ve come a long way, but not nearly to equal.McKellen I can see, although he’s always the mentor. I do wonder how many of the Big Franchise Jawline guys will come out in their 70s.
I mean if Miller hadn’t choked that girl I’d feel better about it, but maybe it’s progress that violence towards women can be overlooked in Hollywood equally if you are Ezra Miller or Emile Hirsch
Ah dammit, I forgot Ezra chocked that girl. Would have maybe skipped him
Well, sure, but it’s encouraging that they didn’t get cancelled well before that after coming out as queer (both the DC and HPEU castings were afterward).
George Takei is an aging Star Trek actor, it’s not like he had a lot of non-Star Trek roles before coming out and they phased his generation out of the ST movies so I wouldn’t call that a result of homophobia. If anything he’s much more beloved since coming out and has had a lot of small roles and appearances he probably wouldn’t have otherwise.. I’d even say if he hadn’t come out he’d be almost forgotten now like Walter Koenig.
Jodie Foster I can see, though I don’t think her coming out was a surprise and she wasn’t really a romantic lead to begin with, at least not on the level of Julia Roberts or someone (who probably would have been ruined if she had.) Some of Foster’s lack of starring roles now may be the also-unfortunate sidelining of middle aged women who aren’t Meryl Streep or Tilda Swinton. But she’s also directing and I wouldn’t say her career is over at all, she’s still young enough for a late career comeback in acting or directing, I could totally see her starring in a prestige drama series on HBO or something.
That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of actors whose careers were stalled or ended by coming out as recently as the 00s… I just don’t totally agree with your examples. And I do think things are much, much better now!
Takei is many things, certainly beloved, but he is absolutely not an A+ mainstream movie star. There’s nothing wrong with being a beloved TV legend who does movies sometimes! It’s a good thing that you can be openly gay and a successful actor now.I think looking at coming out as affecting Foster’s career is backwards- she’s an incredibly private person (understandably) who chose not to come out publicly until after she was done with being a big-deal movie star (after, remember, she’d been famous since childhood). I bet mentor or one-off villain roles in blockbusters would be there tomorrow if she wanted them, but I think it’s a moot point because she DGAF. But the big picture is that she wasn’t out until well after the huge mainstream star part of her career was done.
Not to forget John Hinkley incident probably prompted Foster to stay as private as possible from the public in the 80s, 90s and 00’s.
Yes, totally agree, and I don’t blame her at all for being skeptical about publicizing her personal life.
I really liked Quinto in Hitman: Agent 47.. It more than doubled its budget… but I get it wasnt well received. I thought he did well in it though.
a gay actor still isn’t going to be cast as a leading man anytime soon I don’t think. Most are still told to hide it as well, Hollywood is weird in that it encourages you to be open about things and then seemingly tanks your career when you do.
Or more like Hollywood still wants to pander and sell movies to Middle America and other conservative bigoted places around the world, that it’s still too scared to cast an openly LGBT actor as a lead because it’ll hit their bottom line.
lol yes exactly, I mean weird in that it’s still fucked.
As a bi guy, I’d like to point out that at least some of those “out and gay” movie stars are actually “out and bi.”
i’d love for jen richards to break out in bigger projects. i loved her in ‘mrs. fletcher.’it seems the biggest movie star would be ellen degeneres as Dory.
Anthony Rapp and Tuc Watkins have both spoken pretty openly about how they were pressured to go into the closet in return for A list stardom and refused.
Also note what happened to Luke Evans, who was initially quite open about being gay, but then very obviously avoided talking about his sexuality once he started acting in more prominent Holywood movies.
Sir Ian
Ellen’s career never “tanked”. She had her own sitcom and it was cancelled in 1998 due to bad ratings. (although her “coming out episode was a ratings smash) She then got the daytime talk show in 2003. Four years away from TV is hardly tanking. She still did stand up
I’m the Fox execs would say it was fear of other people’s homophobia, but yeah, you’re spot on.
“Is “Ellen” some new TikTok slang for homophobia? Because it kind of sounds like homophobia cost her that picture deal.”
I see. In your mind, there’s a difference?
Yeah I thought this would be another Ellen is mean article, but “Ellen” could have been any woman in this story.
It’s fun to laugh at someone with mental illness!
(kicks at the dirt) You’re no fun.
I can see losing a movie deal. But being told to leave a premiere of you own movie in the still-very-liberal hollywood of the 90s? I call bullshit.
Makes sense to me. The talent in Hollywood is liberal, the money is very conservative.
Hollywood has never been as liberal as they wanted you to believe it was. I completely buy the story of Anne being kicked out of her own premiere.
LOL at the idea that it’s Hollywood that wants us to think the media is liberal.
Hollywood was so liberal in the 1990s it let straight up violent Nazi lunatic Mel Gibson be an A-list star. While it is true that creative enclaves can be more welcoming of queers than more mainstream spaces, those queers have to behave and not threaten the bottom line.
the bottom, but not the bottom line
touche
Ellen and Anne were everywhere at the time, like John Legend & Chrissy Teigen or Kim & Kanye are now. They were on the cover of mainstream magazines together. They were kind of an “it couple” and I’d think they’d have encouraged them their attending the party.
Just reading the headline, I assumed it was because DeGeneres was kind of known to be mean to her staff, etc.-d
Seems odd to reach out to Disney on this one. They bought Fox but I doubt they have any comment for something the company did 23 years ago
There was no Fox to contact anymore. What else were they supposed to do?
I’ve worked with Anne Heche, and I will say that she was absolutely lovely to work with and talented. And I was a nobody on that set. That was just my experience, and I know she’s got big time problems. She comes from a very unstable background, but I hope she has her life together and continues to work. I always sort of hated the Steve Martin movie where Heather Graham plays a thinly disguised version of her because it was mean and inspired on the fact the Martin didn’t like getting dumped by Anne Heche for a woman.
how many movies are inspired by men getting dumped and wanting to get back? I remember reading about Turks Fruit (Paul Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight) and how the writer was basically a stalker. Yikes.
Also, every movie based on anything F. Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote!
I once dated a gal who was friends with the woman “Shopgirl” was based on. She said Martin was utterly contemptuous of all her “common” friends.
I can totally believe that.
Larry David has nothing nice to say about Steve Martin here…
I’m contemptuous of common people and I’m not even Steve Martin.
Do we really know it was because he was dumped for a woman though? People can be petty like that for just being dumped in general. I didn’t know that it was based on Heche, but from what I remember of the film, it’s believable. But whether it made a difference that it was for a woman seems like speculation that may never be confirmed.
“This is my new girlfriend, the most powerful lesbian in Hollywood.” That struck me as remarkably petty on Martin’s part. Doesn’t make Bowfinger unwatchable, but still, very unnecessary.
So back in the 90s/early aughts, getting sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein, or being an out lesbian, had the same bad results of losing your career. Huh.
That’s a bit backwards. It’s refusing Harvey Weinstein’s sexual advances that tanks your career, as well as being an out lesbian.So basically, daring to express any kind of autonomy apart from the men around you will tank your career. Sounds about right.
Well, he also tried—with some success—to shut down the careers of his victims who complained or wanted to complain about his misconduct. Ex: Annabella Sciorra whose career he tanked after raping her.Sad agree with your final thought.
Right, he shut down anyone who opposed him – either in the form of not giving him sexual consent, or in trying to seek consequences for his misconduct. It’s still the same thing.
To be honest, she didn’t miss anything by leaving Volcano early.
Heche’s “relationship” with Ellen was pure capitalism on her part. I’m glad it backfired. Lesbian? No. Opportunist? Yes. I’m sure her bat-shit brain thought she was but we knew better. Has she been with a woman since? Extremely unlikely.
Wow.
I’m glad you know so much about her love life.
Anne Heche had a really horrible childhood: her father sexually abused then died of AIDS, her brother died in a car accident, and her mother is a bat-shit crazy ‘Christian therapist’ affiliated with Focus on the Family. She has acknowledged her mental illness and how it has adversely affected her life in the past. There are some individuals who may have relationships with members of the same sex, but it not be what they ultimately want/need in their lives, and that’s ok. I have two very close female friends that each dated women, but for each of them, it ended up being something that they acknowledged didn’t work for them (one was in a very emotionally abusive relationship, and the other just realized that she was still very attracted to men), so each are now happily married to men. Neither of them deny, negate or have anything bad to say about their past same-sex relationships, and each of them are very pro-LGBTQ.So in conclusion, you are a dick.
I’m sure your two very close female friends were not up-and-coming actors whose images were splashed on the cover of every rag whilst doing the talk show circuit because of their lesbian romances. I’m not saying she’s evil just that Ellen took an interest and she thought this is my golden ticket to fame. It worked, everyone knows her name but I bet few can name a single film on her resume. So in conclusion, See You Next Tuesday.
Just say CUNT, you chickenshit motherfucker.
You sound like a bitch
I didn’t know that about Anne Heche. I know she had the wildest trip and ended up in a stranger’s house in the middle of a desert, and then dated Ellen. Her career was probably over after Volcano anyhow, Hollywood chews em up and spits em out with routine regularity.
I wouldn’t say i’m pro-lesbian… the girls find new ways to attack every time I let them within a 10 metre radius, they appear to be seriously anti-hamburgerCentral, like some deep lesbian instinct, but I support them on principle y’know, from a distance.
You sound like an utter delight who should totally share more of your baseless opinions with the wider world and not, for example, sit in a small dark room thinking about all your life choices.
You are right. She was mentally unstable like most lesbians that didn’t get daddies love or was hurt by a boyfriend and thought the gay for play would help her career.
I can’t imagine having a relationship for pure capitalist reasons. There was a massive divide between my ex and I on this. He was from a society still struggling with capitalist modes, not yet resisting or subverting. And I guess I’m a bit of everything. I’m definitely not a capitalism native. He couldn’t really see that I would enter in to a relationship for any reason but opportunism, and by the time that message got through to me it was too late.
Most gay women are great, committed, clear-minded, and strong.
I don’t like Heche’s attitude, they make mistakes with the things they say and do, but that’s their prerogative, if that’s who they choose to be then they shoulds do that.
It’s like an AOL message thread became sentient, figured out time travel, and decided to deposit itself in a Kinja thread.
No. Anne Heche was on the way up well before she started dating Ellen. She had two big budget, heavily-marketed films under her belt as a romantic lead. I know because I was following her career—she was my favorite actor on Another World when I was in High School. She did not do the lesbian thing for publicity, and it definitely tanked her career.
Didn’t that movie with Harrison Ford come out right around or just before she started dating Ellen? For some reason, in my head, those two things are linked. I did like that movie.
Ah yes, everyone knows that in 1997 “Be In A Public Same Sex Relationship!” was a rocket ship STRAIGHT TO THE TOP!This comment feels at best weirdly biphobic (who cares if she hasn’t been in a queer relationship since???) and at worst you’re probably a TERF.Thanks, I hate it.
My evening hat is much less elaborate and breakdown inducing.
I couldn’t tell if the typo was “on” instead of “in” or “hat” instead of “that” until I read it like four times.
Change this fucking headline, you hacks. This has fuck all to do with Ellen and everything to do with Fox executives being cunts. Fuck you for victim shaming.
Look, no skin in the game honestly. Just kinda confused why everyone is coming for Ellen right now. I’ve never seen her talk show, I don’t know her schtick, but it seems really weird that, like, everyone is coming for a bite at the apple at this point and half of them don’t care which apple it is. Not defending, just kinda wondering wtf?
Look, no skin in the game honestly. Just kinda confused why everyone is coming for Ellen right now. I’ve never seen her talk show, I don’t know her schtick, but it seems really weird that, like, everyone is coming for a bite at the apple at this point and half of them don’t care which apple it is. Not defending, just kinda wondering wtf?
Her being a pretty crappy person has been an open secret for ages. The reason it seems like it’s all coming at once is… There are years of stories that no one would have believed (given her on camera persona) that are coming out now, because it’s finally become believable that the stories might be true.
The article isn’t coming for Ellen though.
Yeah, I know, but it seems like ever since the news that it was a toxic environment to work with started popping seems like a lot of people you wouldn’t think (or forgot existed) are coming to take shots. It’s like, ummmm, if y’all knew it was this bad, why is it only now coming out?
Payback for Mr. Wrong. Worst romantic comedy ever.
Sure it wasn’t her acting?
Well, that and her age, meh looks, and grating voice. She got fucked over with the whole sexist package.
Oh hi. Don’t forget to go fuck yourself.
I’m sure you’re very ugly
Heche is nuts, has always been nuts. Right around when she announced her relationship with Ellen (I remember this), she was in the first “bomb” of Harrison Ford’s career “six days and seven nights” when Ford was considered Mr. Box Office. She never starred again because her first lead performance was a big dud. She is rewriting history and trying to pander for sympathy
Heche is lying, or perhaps she simply misremembers. The Ellen relationship was what made her mainstream famous. It may have cost her roles, but the idea it tanked her studio career is simply false.
Check out her filmography: Volcano was her first co-starring role, she went on to star or co-star in Wag the Dog, Six Days Seven Nights, Return to Paradise and Psycho. All studio films, but none were big hits and the last two were major box office bombs. That’s why she was dropped.