Anne Heche's mother Nancy has outlived a husband and four of her five children in a life of faith in the face of immense trials
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Anne Heche, the 53-year-old actress who crashed her blue Mini Cooper into a Los Angeles home on August 5, died on Friday, August 12. With the ‘Donnie Brasco’ star passing away, the Heche family has once again been struck with tragedy.
Heche’s mother Nancy Prickett Heche lost four of her five children as well as her husband Donald Heche who died of AIDS in the year 1983. Nancy and Anne had their own share of problems after the former penned in 2006 memoir ‘The Truth Comes Out’ about her daughter’s relationship with Ellen DeGeneres. In the book, the author spilled the beans on the betrayal she felt after her daughter publicly came out as a lesbian in 1997. Following the release of the memoir, Heche and Nancy remained distant.
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Nancy Heche lost four of five kids and her husband
Nancy Heche shared five kids with her husband Donald Heche namely- Anne Heche, Abigail Heche, Cynthia Heche, Susan Bergman, and Nathan Heche. Tragedy first struck when Cynthia died shortly after her birth due to a heart condition. Anne Heche’s 18-year-old brother Nathan aka Nate died in a car accident three months after Donald Heche’s death.
Heche’s other sister, Susan Bergman, who penned her own family memoir called ‘Anonymity’ died in 2006 from brain cancer at the age of 48. Abigail is Heche's only living sibling. She spends quality time with her mother Nancy and shares pictures on Instagram on different occasions.
Nancy Heche’s strained relationship with Anne Heche
The Christian psychologist mother of Heche was always vocal about how she was not fine with her daughter being lesbian. According to the New York Post, Nancy was initially agitated when Anne told her in 1997 about falling in love with Ellen DeGeneres. "I am plummeted into disbelief and outrage," stated the deeply-religious Nancy adding, "I am dumbfounded, in a state of shock. Doesn’t Anne know what homosexuality has done to our family? How will we ever be able to close the gap, the avowed heterosexual mother and the avowed homosexual daughter?" reported the New York Post.
After the publication of Heche’s 2001 memoir, ‘Call Me Crazy’, Nancy shared that she found "no place among the lies and blasphemies in the pages of this book," as reported by The Daily Mail. In an interview with AL in 2009, Nancy said, "I'm sorry I didn't know how to deal with it well. God was giving me an opportunity. We had good moments of trying to connect. All of us were learning how to handle it. We loved each other; how do you live out that when you disagree?"
In 2009, Anne told New York Times, "My mother's had a very tragic life. Three of her five children are dead, and her husband is dead. That she is attempting to change gay people into straight people is, in my opinion, a way to keep the pain of the truth out."