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Anne Heche reveals relationship with Ellen Degeneres cost her a 'multimillion-dollar picture deal'

Kylie Mar
·Host & Producer, Yahoo Entertainment
·3 min read

On Dancing With the Stars Monday night, Anne Heche opened up about her past relationship with Ellen Degeneres.

"My story is a story that created change in the world, moved the needle for equal rights forward, when I fell in love with Ellen DeGeneres. In 1997, I met Ellen DeGeneres at the Vanity Fair party and that was the night that changed my life forever," shared Heche. The actress revealed that she received an unexpected response from 20th Century Fox when she decided to take DeGeneres to her movie premiere for Volcano.

"I told them that I was taking Ellen as my date. I was told if I took Ellen, I would lose my Fox contract. At that moment she took my hand and said, ‘Do what they say,’ and I said, ‘No thanks.’" Heche explained that, despite being warned, she took DeGeneres to her premiere.

"I was ushered out by security before the movie even ended and told I was not allowed to go to my own afterparty for fear that they would get pictures of me with a woman," revealed Heche.

The actress shared that the response she got over her relationship with DeGeneres was "unbelievable."

"Part of my naiveté was that I had no idea. She was warning me, this is gonna happen," Heche explained. However, Heche had no idea how much it would really cost her.

"I was in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres for three-and-a-half years, and the stigma attached to that relationship was so bad that I was fired from my multimillion-dollar picture deal, and I did not work in a studio picture for 10 years," claimed Heche.

Following Heche’s and her partner Keo Motsepe's performance Monday night, the DWTS contestant received praise from the judges for telling her story.

"When you rise above the storm, you will always find sunshine. In this case, a beautiful rainbow," said Derek Hough.

"Oh, my darling, I really admire you for what you did. Very few people have the courage to do what you did," said Bruno Tonioli, while Motsepe took to Twitter Monday night, sharing:

And when asked what the performance meant to her, Heche responded, "I feel redeemed. It has been a blessing to be on this show, and to be able to tell my story, and to be able to have a partner to tell the truth with, and to learn with, and survive with."

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Watch Tyra Banks apologizing after mistakes lead to a chaotic ‘Dancing With the Stars’ ending:

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