American actress Anne Heche died this Friday after life support was withdrawn, following injuries from a dramatic car crash the previous Friday, as reported by Reuters. The artist remained in a coma due to the severity of her brain injuries and pain. A statement sent to People magazine indicated that her family had already anticipated that she would not recover.
“Sorry Mom, with severe cerebral anoxic injury she remains in a critical coma. She is not expected to survive. Her wish has always been to donate her organs, and she is being kept on life support to determine if any organs are viable,” a family representative explained.
Her friend Nancy Davis announced the death, confirming it on Instagram and later through family statements.
long artistic career
Heche built a long and varied acting career that began in theatre and moved toward television and film, providing for her family through her work in a café theater setting. She relocated to New York at seventeen and debuted on the daytime drama Another World in 1991, earning a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance.
After gaining traction on television, she transitioned to film, with a notable appearance in the romantic comedy Six Days and Seven Nights (1998) alongside Harrison Ford.
Her filmography also included titles such as John Q. (2002) and Donnie Brasco (1997), as well as Volcano (1997) with Tommy Lee Jones, and The Wicker Man? or The Smokescreen (1997) with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. A year later she appeared in Psycho (1998), a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, though the project drew mixed responses.
Heche’s recent life took a tragic turn when she was involved in a car accident on her way home to her neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her vehicle crashed into a residence, igniting a fire that required a substantial firefighting effort. Fifty-nine firefighters responded to the scene, and it took about sixty-five minutes to bring the blaze under control.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson Annie Hernandez stated that there were narcotics involved at the time of the crash, information that could evolve with further investigation. Subsequent blood tests indicated the presence of certain substances, but officials noted that these preliminary results might be revised as more tests were conducted. At the time of arrival at the hospital, a follow-up blood test was planned to identify any compounds that might have been administered during treatment.
Authorities noted that the investigation could take 30 to 90 days to determine whether any charges would be filed. Another source, cited by a major newspaper, indicated that an initial blood test detected cocaine in the actress’s system at the time of the accident.