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‘Dancing With the Stars’: Anne Heche recalls backlash for dating Ellen DeGeneres, fans call her story 'powerful'

The actress got emotional prior to her performance as she reflected on her widely known relationship with the now-infamous talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and how it risked her contract with Fox

Television actress Anne Heche and her pro-dancer partner Keo Motsepe came close to elimination in the previous episode of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ after a tough competition with Carole Baskin who was sent home at the end of the night. However, in the latest (October 5) episode, Heche was all set to dust off the loss and deliver a powerful performance.

The actress got a tad bit emotional prior to her performance as she reflected on her widely known relationship with the now-infamous talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and how it risked her contract with Fox. Heche recounted that she wasn’t allowed to go to the after party of her own movie because she was in a lesbian relationship. She also said how she sacrificed her career for love when she dated the television host and comedian for three and a half years. 

Heche and Keo took to the stage to do the paso doble to Katy Perry’s ‘Rise’. In comparison to their previous performance, judges absolutely enjoyed Heche’s latest dance performance. Bruno Tonioli called it the most focused performance of the day while Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough seconded him. Commenting on her latest dance performance, Heche said that she felt redeemed after. The couple got a total of 21. 

Clearly, Heche appealed to fans for more than one reason in the latest episode of DWTS. While some couldn’t stop raving about her moves to ‘Rise’, the rest took to Twitter to shower her with love and support for sharing a story that was so personal yet so inspiring. A significant number of them have praised Heche for opening up about her romantic relationship with DeGeneres and all the obstacles she had to overcome while dating another woman. One fan tweeted, "@AnneHeche story about her relationship with @TheEllenShowand the backlash wow it was incredible for her to share and how she overcame". While another added, "Daaaang @AnneHeche story is so powerful I never knew she dated @TheEllenShow before she was with Portia. I love them both and that dance was sooooo good!!! @keodancer#DWTS". One wrote, "@AnneHeche thank u for opening up and sharing ur story tonight about ur time dating @TheEllenShow and how u didnt let the business of hollywood stop u for being u and loving who u love #DWTS  @DancingABC #anneHech"