Anne Heche claimed that she gave 'everything up' for her former girlfriend Ellen Degeneres, but was never able to please her before their shock split in 2000.
In a 2021 interview, which marked her last chat about her former relationship with Ellen, Anne opened up about her reasoning for 'walking out' on the talk-show host as she claimed that Ellen wasn't happy with Anne having friends who were women.
The Six Days and Seven nights actress, who was today pronounced brain dead following a horror crash on August 5, said that she felt as though she gave up her Hollywood career, along with her close circle of friends in order to please Ellen - who she hadn't spoken to in years.
Ellen, 64, and actress Anne, 53, dated between the years of 1997 and 2000 after coming out, but their relationship took a turn for the worst after the millennium when Anne's mental health began to deteriorate and Ellen's fame and fortune continued to soar.
Lifting the lid on her widely-reported on romance with Ellen, Anne told Perez Hilton in a YouTube interview that she felt relived to have finally been asked to speak about their time together.
Anne explained that she quit acting, moved states, and lost touch with her friends so that Ellen could continue progressing in her TV career, but as the actress began to realise that her loved-ones were drifting further and further away from her, Ellen didn't wish for her to reconnect her with pals, she claimed.
"I think there was a lot to process, so I tried to make the process as simple as possible by quitting Hollywood, moving to Ohio, growing gardens, starting to write and direct with her - which I did in Sharon Stone's movie of all things called Misconception," Anne explained.
"But nothing would satisfy her soul."
When asked when Anne knew the time had come to break things off with Ellen after their fiery three-year romance, the actress admitted that it was a "slow roll".
Anne said in the interview: "I think it was a slow roll. When you come to understand the truth of another - I wanted desperately to have that relationship be the love of my life. That was my Cinderella story.
"But what happened was that I was shut out from things that I cared about and in order to make her feel like she was being loved, I would erase those things from my past such as acting and replace them with things that I thought would give her a foundation."
Anne went on: "As we got further and further away from me being able to be in public the way that would please her, I began getting further and further away from my friends and my friendships. And one of the things that concerned me very much was that I beginning to feel shut off and shut down and shut away.
"I told Ellen that I needed to have friends, she said that she did not want a girlfriend that needed that, and that is the day I left."
The Mirror has contacted Ellen's representatives for comment.
It comes after talk-show host Ellen revealed the pair had not spoken in years this week.
The TV host was spotted out with a friend at True Lune restart in Santa Barbara, California on Monday, where she wished her ex-girlfriend well amid her devastating condition.
Anne was in a critical condition in hospital following the car accident, which saw her smash into a building while under the influence of cocaine.
Her friend, Nancy Davis, made the sad announcement that the star had passed away when her life support was switched off.
Following the crash, Ellen was spotted out and about and quizzed about her former partner's harrowing condition.
In a video shared by the Daily Mail, she was asked if she has spoken to Anne since the accident.
"No," Ellen said as she shook her head. "I have not. We're not in touch with each other so I wouldn't know."
The cameraman was then heard asking: "Do you wanna send her any well wishes?"
"Sure," Ellen said. "I don't want anyone to be hurt."
Anne was officially declared brain dead on Friday morning following the horror incident a week ago on the morning of August 5 in the Mar Vista neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
It is reported she crashed her car twice – first into an apartment complex and then a second time into another home.
