The True Story Behind Ellen DeGeneres And Anne Heche's Breakup

TV mega-star Ellen DeGeneres first met actress Anne Heche at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in 1997. It was basically love at first sight for the two Hollywood stars: They started dating very soon after the event. At the time of the party, DeGeneres had yet to publicly come out, but she made the big announcement just days later. The couple certainly experienced their fair share of controversy: they were the most famous LGBTQ couple in Hollywood... at a time when such things were practically unheard of. Reportedly, DeGeneres had a much harder time with the situation than Heche ever did. The talk-show host told the Los Angeles Times in 2001, "I didn't want to hold hands. I had never done that in public. And yet there was this attitude of, you know, 'You're going to be on the cover of Time magazine and say you're gay but you're not going to hold hands? You deserve to hold hands as much as Tom and Nicole. Or Tom and Rita.' So I have to take responsibility for participating in [that]." Their romance ultimately didn't last. They called it quits three and a half years into the relationship. According to ABC News, their romance ended in late summer 2000... just weeks after they were seen house-hunting in LA and looking as happy as ever. So, what went wrong exactly? At the time, the official statement Heche and DeGeneres released read like this: "Unfortunately, we have decided to end our relationship. It is an amicable parting, and we greatly value the 3 1/2 years we have spent together. We hope everyone will respect our privacy through this difficult time." Meanwhile, a source told ABC News that the relationship had simply run its course: Nothing more, nothing less. But in 2001, DeGeneres told the Los Angeles Times that the split had sent her reeling. As she put it, "[Heche] walked out the door and I haven't spoken to her since, I don't have the answers. I would love to have them myself. I would ask all of the questions that everyone else wants to ask.... I'm left with everybody else wondering what happened. I don't know. I really don't.... I feel betrayed." DeGeneres told the newspaper that this was the first time that she'd ever had her heart broken... and she claimed she didn't feel any sense of closure at all. All these years later, neither DeGeneres nor Heche have revealed what really went wrong in the relationship. After the breakup, Heche didn't publicly date another woman… and DeGeneres was reportedly the first woman Heche had ever dated in her life. In fact, she told Barbara Walters that DeGeneres was the first woman she'd ever slept with, saying that, Following their breakup, DeGeneres moved on, too: She dated actress and photographer Alexandra Hedison for a bit before ultimately settling down with Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi in 2004. They've been together ever since. Watch the video for more on The True Story Behind Ellen DeGeneres And Anne Heche's Breakup. #Ellen #EllenDeGeneres #AnneHeche