Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning actress who starred in films like Six Days, Seven Nights and the Psycho remake, but whose own career was curtailed by struggles with mental illness, died Friday at the age of 53 following injuries she sustained in a car crash in Los Angeles.

“Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend,” Heche’s rep tells Rolling Stone on behalf of her family and friends. “Anne will be deeply missed, but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact.”

The family added to Rolling Stone that Heche had yet to be taken off life support for organ donation purposes but was legally dead per California law.  READ MORE

It may seem surprising to some that I’d even been writing about this particular celebrity death, but it does hit me. I was a big fan of daytime soap operas when I was growing up, specifically during junior high and high school I was hooked on NBC’s line-up of Santa Barbara, Days of Our Lives, and Another World. And it was on that last show that for five years Anne played the dual role of identical twin sisters, Vicki and Marley Hudson. 

She was very good in the role, especially since the two sisters had drastically different personalities, so she had to make them appear to be two different people, and she pulled it off. I only just now learned that this was her first professional acting role and that she was only 18 when she started. That makes it even more impressive.

Then in 1995, a few years after she left the show, I saw her in this movie called Wild Side, which all I remember is that she had a really intense love scene with Joan Chen, another actress I’ve been a fan of after seeing her in the TV show Twin Peaks.

So then a couple of years after that, when she started dating Ellen Degeneres, I remember thinking of this scene, and how it should have been a clue that she was really into women. And it made me wonder if Joan Chen would be coming out next.

Anyway, I won’t say I paid that much attention in the years since, I’d hear things of course when she’d pop up in the news, I know she had many personal problems including possible mental illness. Apparently, she had a troubled childhood that included sexual abuse by her father. And all of this culminated in the fiery car crash that lead to her death. And I just think it’s a shame to see someone with so much talent come to such a tragic ending. R.I.P.

Also, well-wishes to Lynne Mishele, the woman who’s house Anne destroyed.