In the end, actress Anne Heche was not able to survive crashing her car into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. Although she was alert when firefighters rescued her from her vehicle and transported her to the hospital, she ended up in a coma and on life support.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for Heche revealed that it was unlikely she would survive. According to the spokesperson, “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’s being kept on life support to determine if any are viable.”
On Friday, a spokesperson for Heche’s family confirmed her death. The spokesperson explained, “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.” At the time, the spokesperson told PEOPLE that Heche was legally dead according to California law, but she was still on life support while searching for recipients for her organs.
Just hours before the spokesperson confirmed Heche’s death, Heche’s long-time partner and the father of her second son, James Tupper, posted a tribute to her on Instagram. He posted a pixilated picture of Heche smiling and looking off in the distance. He captioned it “love you forever” with a broken heart emoji.
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Earlier in the week, Tupper posted a picture of Heche with their son, 13-year-old Atlas. He captioned the photo, “Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight anneheche. We love you.”
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Heche and Tupper met in 2006 on the set of the show “Men in Trees.” They dated from 2006 through 2018.
In 2016, they discussed their experience working together on the TV show “Aftermath.” Watch the video below to hear them discuss the show and how it came to be that they were working on it together while maintaining a relationship off screen.
