Anne Heche’s Tragic Family History Includes Another Fatal Car Accident
Anne Heche has died from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. The 53-year-old actor drove her blue MINI Cooper into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles last Friday. Heche’s death marks the fifth tragedy to befall the Heche family over the previous four decades. Heche was not the first member of her family involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash. Her brother, Nathan Heche, died similarly.
Anne Heche dies at 53
Anne Heche died on August 12 at the age of 53. The actor and podcaster died from injuries sustained in a single-vehicle accident. According to police reports, Heche was operating her MINI Cooper before noon on August 5 when she drove into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. The speed at which Heche’s vehicle was traveling caused it to break through the home’s exterior. It came to rest well inside the house before it erupted in flames.
Police, firefighters, and paramedics all responded to the scene. Firefighters took more than an hour to extinguish the blaze caused by the collision and extract Heche from the vehicle. According to reports, Heche was conscious and talking during the rescue. She fell into a coma upon being removed from the car. She never regained consciousness.
Anne Heche’s brother, Nathan Heche, also died in a single car accident
In June 1983, Anne Heche’s brother, Nathan Heche, died at 18. His death, in a single car accident, is eerily similar to his younger sister’s death decades later. According to several reports, Nathan likely fell asleep behind the wheel, causing him to drive into a tree.
Heche has been outspoken about her brother’s death and what she believes truly happened. She spoke about it during an appearance on Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry in 2019. She thought their father’s death several months earlier may have left the younger Heche despondent enough to take his own life.
While Heche theorized that Nathan’s death may have been a suicide, reportedly, police found no suicide note. His death is officially considered accidental.
Anne is the fourth of five siblings to die tragically
Heche was one of five siblings and the fourth to die tragically young. Aside from Nathan, Anne’s sister, Susan Bergman, died in 2006 from brain cancer. A writer and literature professor, Bergman rose to prominence in the 1990s after penning a book about her father’s 1983 death from AIDS and how discovering his cause of death led her to better understand her family. Bergman was 48. According to the Los Angeles Times, the published author and professor taught at NYU, Northwestern, and Notre Dame.
Cynthia Heche died at just two months old from a heart defect in 1961, eight years before Anne Heche joined the family. In 1983, months before Nathan’s car crash, Heche’s father, Don Heche, died of AIDS. His death occurred early in the AIDS epidemic. In her 2001 memoir Call Me Crazy, Heche alleged that the elder Heche sexually abused her from the time she was an infant.
Abigal Heche, a jewelry designer, is the only surviving sibling. Abigail, who was at one time estranged from her sister, took to Instagram to thank followers for their prayers following the accident. She has yet to comment on Anne’s death.
In addition to her sister, Anne Heche is survived by her two sons. Homer Laffoon was born in 2002. Heche’s second child, Atlas Heche Tupper, was born in 2009.
