Anne Heche Isn't Expected To Survive A Car Crash & Ex Ellen's Words Are Raising Eyebrows
Heche and Degeneres dated from 1997-2000.
Actress Anne Heche. Right: Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen Show.
Ellen DeGeneres didn't have much to say this week about ex Anne Heche's brutal car accident, which put the actress in a coma from which she is not expected to survive.
Heche, 53, has been in the hospital in intensive care since last week, when her car crashed into a home in Los Angeles and caught fire.
Her family announced late Thursday that she suffered a severe brain injury and is "not expected to survive." She was still on life support Friday to determine if her organs can be donated.
Heche dated Ellen DeGeneres in the late 1990s, and a reporter caught up to Ellen a few days ago to ask her about the crash.
Ellen would not have known at the time that Heche's accident was fatal, but the accident did make major headlines throughout Hollywood.
"Have you spoken to Anne Heche since the accident?" a reporter asked her, per video published by Fox News.
"I have not," said Ellen. "We're not in touch with each other so I wouldn't know."
She was then asked if she'd like to send any messages or well-wishes to her ex.
"Sure," said DeGeneres. "I don't want anyone to be hurt."
The whole encounter lasted only about 20 seconds and DeGeneres was on her way to her car at the time, video shows.
Her response provoked some strong reactions online, where some blasted DeGeneres as "cold" while others came to her defence.
"So tired of seeing Ellen DeGeneres hounded by the press about her hospitalized ex Anne Heche," wrote one Twitter user. "Why should she be forced to make a statement?"
DeGeneres and Heche dated from 1997 until 2000. A year after their breakup, DeGeneres told the Los Angeles Times that Heche was her first heartbreak.
"I’d always been the one to leave relationships, and I had been in long-term relationships, and it was the one time I really believed this is forever," she said.
DeGeneres' talk show ended earlier this year, so she no longer has that platform to address something like this.
She has not sent out an additional statement as of Friday morning.
The Los Angeles Police Department says a preliminary test found "the presence of drugs" in Heche's system at the time of her crash last week. The crash investigation is still underway and final toxicology results have not come in yet, the LAPD said Thursday.