Anne Heche Reveals How Ellen DeGeneres Romance Affected Her Career

Anne Heche famously dated Ellen DeGeneres over two decades ago and she’s opening up about how their relationship affected her career.

The actress, now 51, talked about her past relationship on Dancing With the Stars this week.

“In 1997, I met Ellen DeGeneres at the Vanity Fair party and that was the night that changed my life forever,” Anne said in a video that was provided to People.

She added, “My movie premiere for Volcano, I had told them that I was taking Ellen as my date and I was told if I took Ellen I would lose my Fox contract. At that moment, she 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.”

“She was warning me, ‘This is going to happen,’” Anne continued. “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 multi-million dollar picture deal and I did not work in a studio picture for 10 years.”

Anne and Ellen dated from 1997 until 2000. She later married Coleman Laffoon in September 2001 and they welcomed a son named Homer in 2002. They split in 2007 and she began a relationship with actor James Tupper, with whom she welcomed son Atlas in 2009. They split in 2018.

Click through the gallery for many photos of Anne and Ellen together…