Entertainment

Back To Work For Actress Anne Heche

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 21, 2000 / 2:34 PM EDT / CBS

Actress Anne Heche, who has recently split up with Ellen DeGeneres, was hospitalized briefly over the weekend after wandering up to the door of a rural home and appearing shaken and confused, the Fresno County sheriff's office said.

Heche, 31, was taken to University Medical Center in the central California city of Fresno on Sunday after officers determined that the star of Six Days, Seven Nights was suffering from "medical issues," said a Sheriff's department spokesman in Fresno County.

Police declined to elaborate on her condition, but KABC-TV reported on its Web site that Heche was treated at University Medical Center in Fresno and released. The station cited unnamed officials at the hospital as describing her as in an "altered mind state."

CBS News has learned that Heche later boarded an Air Canada flight for Toronto, where she was working on a film with actor Denzel Washington.

Lt. Merrill Wright, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, said Heche's sports utility vehicle had broken down in a rural area about 40 miles west of the agricultural hub.

The actress then walked nearly a mile before banging on the door of a residence and making strange statements to the occupants, the Wright said. He said officers responded to reports of a "suspicious person" at about 4:30 that afternoon.

A spokeswoman for University Medical Center said no patients had been admitted under the name of Anne Heche.

Asked if the actress could be there under an another name, the spokeswoman said: "Anyone could make that assumption. I can't answer that question."

Spokeswomen for Heche and DeGeneres, 43, whose relationship had been an inspiration to the lesbian community, could not be reached for comment.

The couple announced on Saturday that they were splitting. Friends told the New York Daily News that no third party was involved in the breakup. "The relationship just ran its course. It wasn't working," the paper quoted a friend as saying.

"Unfortunately, we have decided to end our relationship," the couple said in a statement.

"It is an amicable parting, and we greatly value the three-and-a-half years we have spent together. We hope everyone will respect our privacy through this difficult time."

DeGeneres was the first openly gay lead on a television show. Shortly after coming out in a Time magazine cover story, she made television history on April 30, 1997, when her character declared her homosexuality on the popular ABC comedy series, Ellen.

Soon afterward DeGeneres and Heche, who had previously been romantically linked with Steve Martin and Richard Burgi, went public with their love affair.