Anne Heche declared brain dead after crash

MANILA, Philippines – US actress Anne Heche was declared legally dead on Saturday, August 13 (Philippine time) according to California law, a week after a fiery car crash that left her in a coma, according to US media.

According to PEOPLE, E! News, and Variety, Heche is brain dead at age 53, although her heart is still beating since she has not been removed from life support yet. This is so OneLegacy Foundation can still find organ recipients that will match with Heche.

On Sunday, August 7, it was reported that the Emmy-winning actress was still unconscious but in stable condition. Two days later, on Tuesday, August 9, she remained hospitalized in critical condition, comatose, and connected to a breathing machine, four days after suffering severe injuries in a Los Angeles car crash. She was not expected to survive.

On Friday, August 5, Heche was driving a blue Mini Cooper that crashed into a private residence in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. The collision ignited a fire. Heche has not regained consciousness since the accident.

Heche came to prominence in 1987 for her first Emmy-winning starring role in soap opera Another World, where she played twin sisters Vicky and Marley. She went on to star in other screen roles including the HBO series Hung and such films as Wag the Dog and Cedar Rapids.

She made tabloid headlines in the late 1990s for an affair with comedian Ellen DeGeneres around the time that DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian. Following their split, Heche wed cameraman Coleman Laffoon, but they later divorced, and she spent some years after that in a relationship with actor James Tupper, her co-star in the short-lived TV show Men in Trees.  – Rappler.com