18 Sep 2001

anne heche's mother may sue over tell-all book

Anne's mother, Nancy disputes many of the claims her daughter made in her new book; asks Ellen to be witness.

According to the [London] Sunday Times, Anne Heche's mother has asked her daughter's former partner, Ellen DeGeneres, amongst others, to challenge her daughter's new autobiography, Call Me Crazy.

Anne (left) and Ellen
In her confessional memoirs, Heche accuses her late father of repeated sexual abuse while her mother did nothing although she was aware. She also accuses her mother of trying to take her ex-lover, comedian Steve Martin as well as trying to brainwash her and her sisters with anti-semitic views.

Heche also claims that she was infected with herpes by her father who also led a secret homosexual life and was an early victim of AIDS in 1983.

Anne's mother, Nancy rejected the claims, saying she could "find no place for myself in the lies and blasphemies of this book". She and her other daughters, Susan and Abigail are now fighting to have certain sections of the book removed before the book's publication in the United Kingdom next month.

Anne's mother Nancy sisters, seeking legal advice on how to persuade publisher Simon and Schuster to delete the passages

Heche, who is now three months pregnant and recently married, was involved with DeGeneres for three years before walking out on her in August last year.

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, DeGeneres said that she would not read her former girlfriends book where Anne wrote that she realised she was "not a lesbian" and was "just crazy."

Ellen insists that she is not interested in Heche's interpretation of their life together. "I don't really care," DeGeneres told the newspaper. "Her truth is her truth. I would also like to get to the point that I'm not referenced in everything she does."

"What I don't mind saying is, it was the first time I ever had my heart broken," DeGeneres said. "I'd always been the one to leave relationships ... and it was the one time I really believed this is forever."

The 43-year-old actress plays a once-successful high-tech entrepreneur who moves back home to become a guidance counsellor at her old high school in her new comedy series, The Ellen Show, which is scheduled to air in America this week.

United States