Anne Heche Says Hollywood 'Blacklisted' Her For 10 Years Over Ellen DeGeneres Relationship

The "13 Minutes" star called herself "patient zero in cancel culture."
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Actor Anne Heche said she was “blacklisted” by Hollywood for her romance with Ellen DeGeneres, sparking a decade-long studio movie drought.

She felt like “patient zero in cancel culture,” the “Donnie Brasco” star told the New York Post’s Page Six in an interview posted Monday.

Heche and DeGeneres dated from 1997 to 2000, but the actor said the downturn in her career came after she took the daytime talk show host as her date to the 1997 premiere of “Volcano.”

“I didn’t do a studio picture for 10 years,” Heche said. “I was fired from a $10 million picture deal and did not see the light of day in a studio picture.”

In a 2020 interview, Heche discussed the repercussions of being so public with her love for DeGeneres that night.

“I was told by Fox Studio executives that if I brought Ellen to the premiere, my contract would be terminated,” Heche told Mr. Warburton Magazine. “I brought Ellen despite those threats, and we were escorted out of the theater before the lights came on by security and not allowed to attend the premiere party because they did not want any photos of us together.”

Heche, 52, told the Post that studio dealmakers immediately seemed to lose interest in her as the romantic lead opposite Harrison Ford in “Six Days Seven Nights,” but she praised Ford for standing by her. The 1998 Disney film, reportedly made for $80 million, grossed more than $164 million worldwide.

Heche is now starring in the tornado drama “13 Minutes.” She’s said before that she has no regrets about her time with DeGeneres.

“I was a part of a revolution that helped move equality forward. I would not have been able to do that if I had not fallen in love with Ellen,” she told “Entertainment Tonight” in 2020.

Anne Heche with Ellen DeGeneres at a 1998 movie premiere.
Anne Heche with Ellen DeGeneres at a 1998 movie premiere.
Denny Keeler via Getty Images

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