Anne Heche was finally laid to rest this Mother’s Day weekend, in an emotional ceremony.
This comes after she was involved in a fatal car crash earlier last year.
Scroll down to find out more.
Heche, fifty-three, was taken to hospital in “a critical condition” following the devastating car crash on August 5, 2022.
According to Sky News, the actress had been “driving at speed down an LA street” before she crashed into a house.
The Los Angeles Fire Department noted that the crash “sparked a heavy fire” which left the actress with burns…
That required “surgical intervention.”
In the video taken just after the brutal accident, the actress’ behavior was rather erratic, according to TMZ.
Apparently, Heche was “acting erratically” soon after she lost consciousness.
Sources told the media outlet that “law enforcement were able to get a warrant.”
So that officials could determine whether the actress “was under the influence” with a sample of her blood.
And that’s not all…
According to reports, police believe Heche was indeed “under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
Heche committed “at least 2 hit-and-runs” before she drove through a home…
When her car was set ablaze and she faced “significant injuries.”
A representative for the actress told TMZ at the time, that Heche was “fighting for her life” in hospital…
As well as being in a critical condition with “pulmonary injuries” in which she required “mechanical ventilation.”
“Shortly after the accident, Anne Heche became unconscious, slipping into a coma, and is in critical condition. She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention,” concluded the rep.
Following the accident, Heche was in a week-long coma, after suffering significant injuries.
The rep told PEOPLE that “she is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident.”
Since the incident, investigators have called the case a “felony.”
According to the Daily Mail, Heche was “having a bad day” in the run-up to the accident…
In an episode of Heche’s Better Together podcast, she appeared to “slur her words” as she and co-host Heather Duffy told the “audience they are drinking vodka with wine chasers.”
As “a vodka distillery which sponsored one of their shows gave them free alcohol.”
However, it is not clear whether the podcast was filmed on the day of the accident.
“Dr. Rahm said that we should be drinking vodka instead of wine,” Duffy said, while Heche added that “we listened and we are drinking it.”
And it’s the next revelation that’s got fans talking after the actress revealed she was having a “bad day.”
“I don’t know what happened, sometimes days just suck and I don’t know if you ever have them [but] some days, those no good, very bad days, and some days, days just end up like this.
“Sometimes days just suck and I don’t know if you ever have them, but you know some days, Mama says just gonna be like this. Some days there are those no good, very bad days,” said Heche.
“And I don’t know why some days just end up like this, and things don’t really rock me like that,” continued the actress.
Heche later revealed how she has “had a tough week,” and explained, “how people interrupted her meditating at her apartment.”
Before the accident, the actress was seen “speeding down an alleyway and narrowly missing the pedestrian as she walked along the sidewalk in the Mar Vista area of the city.”
The footage shows a woman who has not been identified, looking astonished as the Heche’s Mini Clubman raced past just before 11 am on Friday.
TMZ reported that Heche “may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
When she plowed into the home of Lynne Mishele.
The actress was reportedly in “legal trouble,” after the LAPD took over to investigate.
According to TMZ, the police were “treating the incident as a potential felony investigation because the woman inside the home, Lynne Mishele, suffered.”
Lynne Bernstein, a neighbor of Mishele, told PEOPLE the tenant was “extremely fortunate to have survived the accident.”
She further added, “that she was in shock before she even noticed the vehicle as she saw him and two other neighbors inside her house trying to help everyone get out safely.”
According to Bernstein, the vehicle drove all the way into the house.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said that the damage was severe and caused heavy fire to the one-story home.
The Fire Department even red-tagged the house, which means the building is not safe for occupancy in its current state.
Though she managed to survive the wreckage, Mishele has lost a lifetime of possession and equipment for her online business. Many have donated to her GoFundMe page.
Heche’s family later revealed the heartbreaking news that she was declared brain dead.
And announced that she would be taken off life support.
It has been shared that Heche suffered “severe anoxic brain injury” due to the crash according to a statement made by her family.
This means her brain was starved of oxygen for a significant amount of time.
A rep for her family said:
“We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Anne’s recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital.”
“Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive.”
The statement continued: “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.”
Authorities are still gathering evidence from the crash…
And were expected to present a case to prosecutors once the investigation is complete.
However, the actress soon passed away, family and friends confirmed.
A rep for Heche’s family told TMZ: “We have lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend.”
The statement continued: “Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy.
“Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact.”
The news has come as a huge shock to all those who know and love her.
Particularly her 2 sons, who have had to deal with a great deal of tragedy.
Shortly after the news of her death was announced, Heche’s son, twenty-year-old Homer Laffoon, shared a tribute for his mom.
“My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom,” he began. “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.”
He then went on the thank all those who have shared their thoughts and well wishes to him and their family.
“Over those six days, thousands of friends, family, and fans made their hearts known to me,” he said.
“I am grateful for their love, as I am for the support of my Dad, Coley, and my stepmom Alexi who continue to be my rock during this time.
“Rest In Peace Mom, I love you,” he added.
After it was disclosed the actress was not expected to survive, Heche’s rep revealed even more details about Heche’s condition, including her final wish.
The rep explained that the Donnie Brasco actress chose to be an organ donor long ago and, according to reports, would remain alive until the check is done.
“It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable,” the statement read.
It was announced that she would stay on a ventilator so that doctors could check her organs to see if they are able to be donated before they turn off the life support.
And it seems she was granted her last wish.
A spokesperson confirmed that several matches were made for “multiple organs” to be donated.
Heche was legally pronounced dead, under California law, after doctors had found her to be brain dead.
Though after her death, she remained on a life support machine to preserve her organs just in case they could be donated.
A spokesperson for Heche released a statement that once it was confirmed that someone was found, the late actress had “peacefully been taken off life support.”
Following her death, Heche’s ex-husband, Coleman Laffoon, posted an emotional tribute to the late actress on social media…
In the video, it said: “In the wake of Anne’s passing, I just wanted to say a few things: One, I love her, and I miss her, and I’m always going to. Two, Homer is OK.’
He further added: ‘He’s grieving, of course, and it’s rough, it’s really rough s probably anybody can imagine. But he’s surrounded by family, and he’s going to be ok.’
It has been reported that Heche also received an honor walk from the hospital staff.
The honor walk trend started in December 2017 to help ICU nurses who were seeking a way to honor patients who’d donated their organs after death.
Since then, the honor walk has become a trend and a ceremony for patients.
After days of waiting, a representative of Heche released a statement, claiming that a match was found for Heche’s organs.
And thus, her life support machine was no longer needed to keep her organs preserved and was switched off.
Only a few days later, Heche was going to the operating room, to have her organs removed and donated.
A representative of Heche stated that the hospital staff in Grossman Burn Centre hospital had performed a special tribute to the late actress by performing an ‘honor walk.’
What is an honor walk, you ask?
It’s a ceremony where hospital staff line up in a path and pay their respect to the patient and family from the organ donor hospital room to the operating room.
It was Heche’s final wish to be an organ donor, and it was nice to see doctors and nurses paying their respect to the late actress.
Just days after her death, a coroner confirmed her cause of death.
According to the Coroner’s report, obtained by TMZ, Heche’s death was the result of a number of reasons.
The most detrimental being smoke inhalation and thermal injuries as a result of the car bursting into flames.
However, the Coroner also revealed she suffered from a sternal fracture upon impact.
Meaning part of her chest was crushed, which tragically resulted in her falling into a coma.
And following this, an episode of Heche’s podcast, Better Together, resurfaced…
In which she explained to her co-host, Heather Duffy, that Portia de Rossi thought dating Ellen DeGeneres would make her a “poster child” for a gay relationship.
In the episode, which was from June 2021, Heche said that “Portia even asked me about Ellen” and told her “I’m gonna go after Ellen.”
“I warned Portia,” she said.
“You won’t be the poster child, girl, because guess what, that poster child has already been taken; and by the way, it wasn’t a great spot.
“But, yours ain’t gonna be any easier. And I’m telling you now, like, red flag, red flag, red flag!” Heche said.
This wasn’t the first time Heche spoke negatively of DeGeneres.
Her same-s*x relationship with DeGeneres greatly impacted her career, and it wasn’t a good impact.
She later told Page Six that her relationship with DeGeneres canceled her from Hollywood.
Heche had famously made the headlines when she went to the premier of Volcano with DeGeneres, where she’d faced scrutiny for being in a same-s*x relationship.
Despite Heche warning de Rossi about Ellen, they ended up getting married in 2008 and have since celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary.
Heche’s upcoming memoir delves deeper into her relationship with DeGeneres.
Heche’s memoir was finished not long before her tragic death and is now available to buy.
The memoir is called Call Me Anne, and details her feelings during her relationship in the ’90s: “I was labeled outrageous because I fell in love with a woman. I had never been with a woman before I dated Ellen,” Heche wrote.
Adding: “I did not, personally, identify as a lesbian. I simply fell in love! It was, to be clear, as odd to me as anyone else. There were no words to describe how I felt.”
She continued: “Gay didn’t feel right, and neither did straight. Alien might be the best fit, I sometimes thought. What, why, and how I fell in love with a person instead of their gender, I would have loved to have answered if anyone had asked, but as I said earlier, no one ever did. I am happy that I was able to tell you in this book – once and for all.”
Months on from the horrific crash that took Heche’s life, the woman whose house was destroyed, has announced she’s suing the late actress’ estate.
TMZ reports that Lynne Mishele shared that she’s still traumatized by the ordeal.
She even claimed to have flashbacks and nightmares of the car hurtling toward her home, which was left a wreck.
Mishele said her house and all her possessions were totally destroyed by the crash…
So she has sued Heche’s estate for at least $2 million to repay the damage done to her home and mental health.
More recently, Heche’s son, Homer, has been named general administrator of her estate after a long battle in court with her ex-boyfriend.
This comes after James Tupper claimed to have possession of a will.
However, Laffoon denied his claims saying it never existed. The will claimed that Tupper was named the heir to Heche’s estate.
Since then, they followed a long legal battle in court with Judge Lee Bogdanoff in Los Angeles.
“We believe the court reached the correct result this morning, both legally and equitably, and are glad to have this phase of the process behind us,” Homer’s attorney told PEOPLE.
Shocking details from Heche’s coroner were also revealed.
After conducting a final autopsy, they confirmed that the actress had c***** in her system at the time of the fatal crash.
However, according to TMZ, the coroner stated that there was ” no evidence” of her being “impaired” when she crashed.
But there was benzoylecgonine detected in her bloodstream.
Since the news, the owners of the house that was destroyed by the crash have filed a lawsuit against her estate.
They are seeking damages of at least $2 million, as per People.
According to the attorney, the “violent impact from the crash caused severe structural damage to the home, which immediately erupted in a towering inferno.”
“At the time Heche plowed into and decimated their house, the Durands were leasing their house and property, and the Durands received a substantial economic benefit from the lease and the monthly rent that they received,” the document states.
“The Durands now have to spend substantial time and money and undergo the difficult process of rebuilding their house,” the document continues.
“The Durands have suffered substantial damages as a result of Heche’s irresponsible actions and behavior.”
Because of this, they’ve asked the court to “enter judgment in their favor and against defendants.”
However, almost a year after her death, Heche was laid to rest this weekend.
As per TMZ, a rep for the late actress was given her final resting place Sunday afternoon at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Cathedral Mausoleum.
The location is reportedly reserved for some of the biggest names in showbiz.
The rep says, “She loved everyone so passionately and deeply and her children, her legacy, thank everyone for their support and love through this difficult time and are grateful to be able to honor their mother, [Sunday] on Mother’s Day.”
Sources report that Heche was cremated, and her crypt is across from Chris Cornell and Johnny Ramone.
The decision to bury Heche at the famous Hollywood cemetery was announced by her two sons, Homer Laffoon and Atlas Heche Tupper last year.
“My brother Atlas and I want to thank Tyler, Noelle and all the amazing people at Hollywood Forever for their kindness, compassion and generosity of spirit,” the pair said in a statement.
“We are convinced our Mom would love the site we have chosen for her; it’s beautiful, serene and she will be among her Hollywood peers.
“Most importantly, Hollywood Forever is a living place, where people attend movies and concerts and other events.
“She was our Mom, but the kindness and the outpouring of the past few days reminded us that she also belongs to her fans, to the entertainment community, and now, to the ages.”
Rest in peace, Anne Heche.
