Years before she tragically died and her name reappeared in all major publications, actress Anne Hechey had plunged into obscurity.
After several major roles in the late 1990s, including in the films “Let’s Bark the Dogs” and “Donnie Brasco”, Hollywood suddenly forgot about Hatchey and, according to her, it was no accident.
Even during her lifetime, the actress considered herself patient zero in the “culture of cancellation” because she was convinced the industry had turned its back on her because of her public relationship with host Ellen DeGeneres.
And in her next memoir, Call Me Crazy, which the actress wrote and published months before her death, she offers a broader perspective on the industry’s treatment of gay couples in the 1990s.
“I was labeled ‘outrageous’ because I once had an affair with a woman. But before Ellen, I had never dated a woman. These were feelings for which gender didn’t matter,” Hatchey says in her book. which will be released this year.
Returning to her only homosexual relationship, which lasted three years, the actress also wrote that what angered her the most was the media label “lesbian” because she did not perceive her sexuality with exactly that definition.
“I never called myself a lesbian. I just fell in love. To be clear to everyone, it was as strange to me as it was to anyone else. I couldn’t find the words to describe how I felt,” wrote the late celebrity.
Hatchey’s romance with Ellen DeGeneres began in 1997 and most of the time she was in front of the cameras. In those years, celebrities who openly admit they are gay can be counted on their fingers, and DeGeneres and Hatchey were the first famous women to hold hands on the red carpet.
Their behavior is a revolution that neither the media nor the public can get enough of. The two are guests on Oprah’s show, often inviting reporters to their home and answering questions of a personal nature, just to prove they are people like everyone else.
The fact that they are the first public gay couple unknowingly requires them to set a good example.
But Ann Hatchey did not realize that when she invited Ellen DeGeneres to accompany her to the premiere of the film “Vulcan” in 1997. She did not believe that their hug in front of the cameras would be a manifestation of their relationship that would leave an indelible mark on her career.
“I invited her spontaneously, out of love and kindness,” the actress said in an interview with Page Six.
However, after this premiere, Hechi’s career path began to undergo serious upheavals. Bids for new roles dropped considerably, and a production in which she was cast was called into question because the press started joking that he would be playing Harrison Ford’s mistress if he were gay.
The cutting jokes reached the producers of the romantic comedy “Six Days, Seven Nights”, and they actually began to hesitate that Ann Hetchey would be a convincing enough straight partner for Harrison Ford. Then the actor who played Indiana Jones intervenes.
“One day he called me and said, ‘Look, honey, I don’t care who you sleep with. I want to do a romantic comedy with you. We do our best. That’s why Harrison Ford is my hero. a moment like this when everyone was against me is a sign of great courage, ”Hatchey told Vanity Fair.
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But while she was convinced that her relationship with DeGeneres put her career on hold, the actress has always been proud to represent the LGBT + community on the red carpet without being ashamed of her relationship or sexual orientation, as she put her father to shame.
Hatchey’s father Donald is a Baptist church choir director with a secret and wild homosexual lifestyle. Behind his family, he has had multiple relationships with men, as a result of which he contracted HIV and became known as one of the first Americans to die of AIDS.
Shortly before leaving, he takes off his mask and tells his children about his double life.
Ann was 14 at the time and remembering what happened marked the mind of her mother, Nancy Hatchey, who was on a crusade against homosexuality. That didn’t change when the actress showed up holding Ellen DeGeneres’ hand at the premiere of the Vulcan movie.
On the contrary, it intensifies, distancing mother and daughter from each other.
Before she died, Anne Hechey did not speak to her native family, she was ostracized by her colleagues and in many ways felt misunderstood. It is probably for this reason that she felt the need to write a memoir and, even after her death, to tell firsthand the personal story of her experiences.
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