If Anne Heche didn’t want the story published, she would do everything possible to keep it secret.
Former “Entertainment Tonight” producer Fran Weinstein learned that harsh lesson in 1998 when he interviewed the actress at a press conference for the film “Psycho.” Heche had just started dating Ellen DeGeneres and was desperately trying to dispel rumors of a romance with Vince Vaughn.
Weinstein told Page Six that when he brought up the rumors, Heche “lost her mind, her eyes opened like sinkholes. She and Ellen had just started dating.”
Seeing how uncomfortable Heche was, Weinstein moved on. After the interview ended, Heche told her, “Please don’t say that about Vince Vaughn. I don’t want my girlfriend to hear that.”
The entertainment news veteran assured her that the question would not be aired, but that did nothing to allay Heche’s fears that DeGeneres would find out. Mr. Hesch sent several publicists and managers back to Mr. Weinstein’s suite and demanded the tapes be handed over. Weinstein refused, and Heche took matters into his own hands.
“Anne Heche came running out of the elevator. … I waved my finger in her face and said, ‘We didn’t get the tape,'” Weinstein said. “She came out and screamed, ‘You don’t respect me. You don’t respect my girlfriend!'”
The two had a screaming match back at the St. Regis suite, where Heche chain-smoked and “I sprayed her with lavender,” Weinstein said.
Mr. Weinstein, exhausted from the interaction, lay down in bed and Heche and the tape disappeared.
According to Weinstein, she barged into Heche’s room and yelled, “Give me back my fucking tape!” Heched replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Weinstein threatened to call the police, but the executive producer, fearing media attention, vetoed the film. Still, the incident made headlines in New York gossip magazines. A representative said at the time that Heche “completed the interview and never took away the tape, and he still does not have the tape.”
Weinstein said he doesn’t know what happened to the tape. According to urban legend, Heche “instructed someone to dump it in the New York City sewer system.”
The retired news professional relives this story and more in her memoir, Tortured Soles: High Heels, Low Expectations, and the Hollywood Gossip Mill, to be published April 28.
Heche tragically passed away in 2022 in a horrific car accident.
Weinstein described her as “a wonderful actress.” “I felt sick when she died,” she concluded.
