Both Emily Bergl and Anne Heche’s ex-husband James Tupper have pushed back at the “crazy” label “placed upon” the late actress.
The two both costarred with Heche on ABC’s “Men In Trees,” which ran for two seasons from 2006-2008. In an Instagram post shared over the weekend, Bergl fiercely defended Heche while recalling what it was like to work with her on the short-lived dramedy.
“‘You worked with crazy Anne Heche?’ ‘So how crazy was she?’ I worked with Anne Heche for two years on the TV show Men in Trees, and this line of questioning was usually the first out of people’s mouths,” she wrote. “She elicited more curiosity than any other famous person I’ve ever worked with. I’d like to give you the answers to the questions I most received about Anne, answers that I gave many, many times.”
“Anne was not only a genius, but one of the most astoundingly focused and prepared actors I’ve ever worked with. I don’t think I ever saw her miss her mark,” Bergl continued, before saying the “only joke” she ever made about Heche was “that it’s likely she didn’t have a psychotic break, but really was an alien, because her strength seemed super human.”
Bergl continued to praise Heche’s work ethic, saying her acting was always “flawless … yet always remained spontaneous,” and added that Anne never showed up late and simply wasn’t “capable of phoning it in.”
“It’s no wonder Anne titled her brilliant memoir ‘Call Me Crazy,’ she beat everyone to the punch. She was talking about mental health before it was acceptable to talk about those struggles,” Bergl continued. “She was raped by her father, her brother killed himself, and her mother told her she would burn in Hell for loving a woman. But despite a sometimes harrowing life, she was so much fun to be around. She was insouciant, joyous, insightful.”
“We so rarely investigate the abuse, the gaslighting, the misogyny, the homophobia that drives people to finally take up the ‘crazy’ mantle that’s been placed upon them,” Bergl continued, while urging others to read Heche’s book … which was selling for $200 on Amazon at the time of her post. There’s now only one collectible copy left, selling for $750.
Bergl concluded: “She was a true genius, and I miss her.”
One of the first to reply to Bergl’s post was Tupper, who was married to Heche from 2007-2018 and with whom the late actress shared a son, 13-year-old Atlas.
“Oh god thank you for writing this. Is all completely accurate and true. love you e,” he wrote in the comments.
Another comment came from Amanda Seyfried, who worked with Heche in the 2017 film “The Last Word.” She wrote, “Truly incandescent woman. She was fearless and truthful and so, so wonderful to watch.”
Rosie O’Donnell, meanwhile, simply commented, “beautiful.”
Heche died at the age of 53 following a car crash on August 5, an accident which left her in a coma. She was declared brain dead on August 12, before she was taken off life support on the 14th.
She is survived by her two sons, Homer Laffoon, 20, and Atlas.
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