Actress Anne Heche has ‘long recovery ahead’ after car crash

By Chloe Melas and Cheri Mossburg, CNN

Anne Heche remains hospitalized and in intensive care after a car she was driving crashed into a residence in Los Angeles on Friday and became engulfed in flames.

“Anne is in the ICU, she’s lucky to be alive. She has severe burns and has a long recovery ahead. Her team and her family are still trying to process what led up to the crash,” a source close to Heche told CNN Saturday morning.

The vehicle was traveling at a high speed when it ran off the road and collided with a residence, Los Angeles Police Public Information Officer Jeff Lee told CNN on Friday.

Heche was taken to a hospital by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics in critical condition. It took firefighters more than an hour to “access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure,” the LAFD said.

There were no other injuries reported.

A representative for Heche released the following statement:

“Anne is currently in stable condition. Her family and friends ask for your thoughts and prayers and to respect her privacy during this difficult time.”

On Saturday, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN authorities had yet to question Heche about the circumstances of the incident.

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the crash and a previous “misdemeanor hit and run” incident, an LAPD spokesperson told CNN Saturday evening.

LAPD said no arrests have been made.

Heche remained in hospital as of Saturday evening and the significant nature of her injuries have prevented officers from interviewing her, the law enforcement source added.

Hours before Heche’s crash on Friday, a new episode of her podcast “Better Together,” was released but it has since been removed from their Apple Podcast landing page. During a portion of the podcast, Heche and her co-host, Heather Duffy, discuss drinking vodka and wine and Heche talks about having a “bad day.” It’s unclear when the podcast was recorded. CNN has reached out to Heche’s representatives for comment.

“Today’s been a very unique day,” Heche says in the podcast. “I don’t know what happened, sometimes days just suck and I don’t know if you ever have them, but some days Mama says are … some days are those no good very bad days. And I don’t know why some days just end up like this, and things don’t really rock me like that.”

Heche first rose to fame on the soap opera “Another World,” where she played the dual role of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love from 1987 to 1991 and earned a Daytime Emmy Award. She followed that with films like “Donnie Brasco,” “Six Days Seven Nights,” and “Wag the Dog.”

Her romantic relationship with Ellen DeGeneres in the late ’90s resulted in intense media attention, much to Heche’s professional frustration. In a 2021 interview with Page Six, Heche said she felt “blacklisted” after going public with their relationship.

“I didn’t do a studio picture for 10 years,” said Heche, who dated DeGeneres from 1997 to 2000.

Heche has appeared in numerous television series more recently, including “The Brave,” “Quantico” and “Chicago P.D.” She has several acting projects currently in post-production, according to her IMDB profile.

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CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed to this report.