Exclusive: Anne Heche Interview
Aug. 31 -- Actress Anne Heche says she spent the first 31 years of her life suffering from mental illness triggered by sexual abuse at the hands of her father.
Heche, who landed on gossip pages for her romantic relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, made the comments in an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters. The program airs on 20/20 Wednesday.
"Those were your words: Insane for 31 years," says Walters, to which Heche, now 32, responds, "Yes."
"Were you really insane as most of us think of as insane?" asks Walters.
"You would have to define what most people think is insane," counters Heche, who explains that she believed she was two people. Celestia — her other personality — was from another planet and spoke a different language directly with God.
Heche, who has starred in such movies as the remake of Psycho and Six Days, Seven Nights and had a guest-starring role on television's Ally McBeal, has written an autobiography. The book, Call Me Crazy, is slated for release Sept. 5.
Another World
This escape to another world, she says, stemmed from being sexually abused by her father since she was a toddler. She says they were years of her life that she still can't remember clearly.
"I think it's always hard for children to talk about abuse because it is only a memory," she says. "I didn't carry around a tape recorder … I didn't chisel anything in stone … Anybody can look and say, 'Well how do you know for sure?' And that's one of the most painful things about it. You don't."
Her father, Donald Heche, was a choir director in a Baptist church who frequented gay bars at night. Heche found out about her father's double life at the age of 12, as he lay dying of AIDS.
Life With and Without Ellen
Heche says she was insane throughout her three-year relationship with DeGeneres, the comic actress who made history by becoming the first lead gay character in a television series. In the interview, Heche reveals the intimate details of their romantic life and breakup.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live