Anne Heche is ‘not expected to survive’ auto accident, says her reps

A statement released late Thursday gave the grim and upsetting news that Anne Heche is not expected to survive the injuries she sustained from an auto accident last week. The 53-year-old actress is currently in a coma at a burn center in West Hills Hospital, near Los Angeles.

“Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive,” the statement read. “It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable.” 

On August 5, Heche crashed her blue MINI Cooper, which had been traveling at what authorities called “a high rate of speed” in the residential Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. She then crashed into a home, igniting a fire that took firefighters roughly one hour to extinguish. A helicopter videographer captured the moment when she was brought out on a stretcher and she reflexively tore off a sheet, surprising emergency workers.

Heche is the winner of a Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her early work on “Another World.” She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2004 in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, for “Gracie’s Choice,” a Lifetime film about a family torn apart by drug addiction, co-starring Diane Ladd and Kristen Bell. 

She is best remembered for a string of financial and critical hits from the late 1990s, including the HBO film “If These Walls Could Talk,” “Donnie Brasco,” “Wag the Dog,” and “Six Days Seven Nights.” This run was concurrent with her public romance with Ellen DeGeneres, one of the more highly visible same-sex relationships of the 1990s.

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