Ellen DeGeneres has broken her silence following the death of her ex-partner Anne Heche.
The talk show host, who dated Anne from 1997 to 2000, shared a statement on her Instagram story to express her sympathy - and send commiserations to Anne's family and friends on what she called a "sad day".
The former girlfriend of Ellen Degeneres suffered an anoxic brain injury after she crashed her mini cooper into a residential Los Angeles home. As a result, the 53 year-old was declared brain dead and was removed from life support a week after her accident.
In an Instagram story, Ellen, 63, wrote: "This is a sad day. I'm sending Anne's children, family and friends all of my love."
Anne and Ellen dated for three years, but their relationship took a turn for the worst when Anne's mental health began to deteriorate and Ellen's fame and fortune continued to sore, the Mirror reports.
In a 2021 interview, Anne claimed she reached out to her former girlfriend 'every day of her life' to make peace with her but said nothing could 'satisfy her soul'.
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.
When asked if she ever reached out to Ellen following their split, Anne told Perez Hilton: "You know what, every day of my life I reached out to her.
"I think that it was a very difficult thing for her to trust that I was a woman who could fall in love with a woman, without being gay."
She added: "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.
"But nothing would satisfy her soul," Anne concluded.
Anne's death was announced by her friend Nancy Davis, who posted a tribute to the actress on social media.
Nancy shared a series of photos of herself with Anne to Instagram. Captioning the post, she wrote: "Heaven has a new Angel. My loving , kind , fun , endearing and beautiful friend @anneheche went to heaven.
"I will miss her terribly and cherish all the beautiful memories we have shared. Anne was always the kindest, most thoughtful person who always brought out the best in me.
"She was so supportive with anything she could do to help @racetoerasems and would always say yes when she knew she could contribute something with her time, talent and creative genius to help find a cure for MS . My heart is broken."
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