Anne Heche Taken Off Life Support After DUI Car Crash
A little over a week since sustaining severe burns and a major brain injury from a car crash, 53-year-old American actress Anne Heche was taken off life support last Sunday, August 14.
Heche got into a major vehicular accident while driving her Mini Cooper at high speed on the morning of August 5. The Hollywood actress was the only passenger in the car. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) shared that the vehicle “burst into flames and came to rest 30 feet inside the two-story home.”
The LA home in question belonged to a woman who was in the house as the car crashed into it. The house was structurally damaged and went up in flames. Miraculously, the woman inside was unharmed. Upon hearing the loud crash, alarmed neighbors rushed to the scene and saw smoke billowing from the place of residence.
It took the LAFD 60 minutes and 60 men to extinguish the fire and extract Heche from the car. She seemed responsive as they rushed her to the hospital but soon slipped into a coma.
Witnesses told TMZ that earlier that morning they saw Heche crash into the garage of an apartment complex. LA Police Department (LAPD) officials are considering the possibility of classifying the incident as a felony since the crash involved damaging private property while the resident was still inside. Her blood work revealed that the actress had taken cocaine prior to the accident.
After being hospitalized at the Grossman Burns Center at West Hills Hospital, Heche appeared to be in stable condition. However, as the days progressed, representatives from her team revealed that her state continuously deteriorated.
Apart from a brain injury that left her comatose, she reportedly had severe lung injuries that required her to be put on mechanical ventilation.
After being in a coma for a little over a week, Heche’s representative released the following statement, “Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition.”
“She is not expected to survive. It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable.”
“Anne had a huge heart and touched everyone she met with her generous spirit. More than her extraordinary talent, she saw spreading kindness and joy as her life’s work — especially moving the needle for acceptance of who you love.”
“She will be remembered for her courageous honesty and dearly missed for her light,” the statement concluded.
By Sunday evening, a spokesperson for the family confirmed that she had been taken off life support.
Heche rose to fame for her 1990 films Volcano, the 1998 Psycho remake, Six Days, Seven Nights, and Donnie Brasco. However, it was her personal life as the girlfriend of TV personality Ellen DeGeneres that later made her even more famous and controversial during a time when lesbian couples had yet to be openly accepted in society.
