Actress Anne Heche was taken to a hospital on Friday after a wild series of events involving a crashed car and a fire.
TMZ is reporting that the actress and former partner of Ellen DeGeneres (the two separated in 2000) was involved in a car crash around noon in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. Her blue Mini Cooper reportedly crashed into the garage of an area apartment complex.
People from the complex tried to get her out, TMZ reported, but she reversed and drove away. After that, she crashed her car into a nearby house and it started a fire, which was big enough to spread around the whole house.
The actress suffered burns and can be seen being taken away on a stretcher to an ambulance in photos obtained by the news organization. There’s no information just yet as to how severely she was injured.
Doctors at the hospital will take her blood when they’re able, to determine whether she was under the influence or not, but TMZ also shared a photo of her in the car with a clear bottle that looks like alcohol in a cup holder.
Heche, 53, broke onto the scene in the early ‘90s as a soap opera actress in Another World. She found widespread mainstream fame with roles in big movies like Donnie Brasco, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Return to Paradise, among many others.
In 1997, she received significant attention for her relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. She has also been fairly candid about her struggles with mental health, admitting in an interview with Barbara Walters that she created an alter ego for herself to feel safe.
She also said she struggled with substance abuse.
“I drank. I smoked. I did drugs. I had sex with people. I did anything I could to get the shame out of my life,” she said.
TMZ said the actress was intubated at the hospital and “expected to live.”
