Despite that, the 'Six Days, Seven Nights' actress says that the time she spent together with the popular TV host is 'a beautiful part of my life and one that I wear with honor.'

• Oct 6, 2020

AceShowbiz - Anne Heche talked about her past romance with Ellen DeGeneres. Reflecting on their 1997 relationship in the Monday, October 5 episode of "Dancing with the Stars", the 51-year-old actress shared that meeting the talk show host "changed my life forever."

"In 1997, I met Ellen DeGeneres at the Vanity Fair party and that was the night that changed my life forever," Anne, who was eliminated in the episode after dancing a Paso Doble to Katy Perry's "Rise" alongside Keo Motsepe, divulged. "My movie premiere for 'Volcano', I had told them that I was taking Ellen as my date and I was told if I took Ellen I would lose my Fox contract."

The "Donnie Brasco" star also revealed that Ellen urged her to just follow what they wanted but she refused. "At that moment, she took my hand and said, 'Do what they say' and I said, 'No thanks,' " Anne recalled. "I took Ellen to the premiere and I was ushered out before the movie even ended and was told I was not allowed to go to my own after party for fear that they would get pictures of me with a woman."

The "Return to Paradise" actress continued, "She was warning me, 'This is going to happen.' " That was not the only consequences she had to get while dating Ellen, who is now married to Portia de Rossi. "I was in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres for three-and-a-half years and the stigma attached to that relationship was so bad that I was fired from my multi-million dollar picture deal and I did not work in a studio picture for 10 years," she shared.

Despite that, Anne said their time together was "a beautiful part of my life and one that I wear with honor." She went on to say, "I was a part of a revolution that created social change, and I could not have done that without falling in love with her."

Anne claimed that she is "proud to have been part of a revolution that helped move equality forward," though she acknowledged that "there is still work to do." The actress added, "I've paved this way for myself, and my honesty had every single thing to do with it."

"I think every interaction we have should begin with whether or not we can look at and talk to other human beings with 100 percent respect. My answer will always be, 'Yes.' We have to agree that it's a possibility and that we all deserve it," she concluded.