More than two decades before Anne Heche’s tragic death, she wrote about her life in a memoir titled “Call Me Crazy.”
In the actress’ book, released in September 2001, she opened up about her lifelong struggles with mental health and a childhood of abuse.
“I’m not crazy,” she told ABC News that year. “But it’s a crazy life. I grew up in a crazy family and it took me 31 years to get rid of the craziness.”
Heche died Sunday at the age of 53, nine days after being pulled from a burning car and hospitalized in critical condition following an accident at a Los Angeles home on August 5.
“Call Me Crazy” is out of print, so fans are flocking to bookstores and online libraries to try and get a copy. Here’s everything we know about Heche’s memoirs.
Death of Anne Heath:The actress died at 53 after a week of hospitalization following a fiery car accident
What is “Call Me Crazy” about?
Heche’s memoir chronicles her turbulent upbringing, rise to fame, and high-profile relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, whom she dated from 1997 to 2000.
In one version of the book’s cover, as seen on Amazon, a quote from Gloria Steinem calls the memoir “a brave, funny, irresistible, and wise companion on the long journey home.”
USA TODAY was unable to obtain a copy of the book, but excerpts can be found in Google Books – some of them are now weird and heartbreaking to consume.
Who is Anne Heche? Find out about his life before the car crash, including mental health issues, Ellen DeGeneres’ romance
In her prologue, Heche imagined herself trying to jump off a flight of stairs and fly.
“And then I jumped. With all my might. Weightless. Free drop. It wasn’t that long, but long enough. When I felt the landing at the bottom coming towards me, I easily landed Toe by toe until I was on solid ground again Would anyone ever believe I could actually fly?
In the second chapter, titled “Centuries of Memories”, she wrote that she was raised in a Christian home with four siblings, including a deceased sister named Cynthia.
“I loved having another sister. I used to fantasize that I’d go to heaven and meet her. ‘When I go to heaven, I’ll meet her and we’ll be friends,’ I said with a smile. to everyone I met, like it was a good thing she was dead. It gave me something to look forward to.”
What are the biggest reveals in the memoir?
In a Sept. 6, 2001, article from the USA TODAY Archives, Heche spoke to reporter Ann Oldenburg about her memoir and why she chose to write it.
“There were a lot of things about me that weren’t complete,” she said at the time. “So I thought it was important and necessary to tell the whole story. Telling the whole story – whether you like it, whether you don’t like it, whether you think I’m crazy, whether I’m sane – you’ll see we’re on a journey that’s an individual process towards our healing, I believe.”
Heche’s book came around the same time she married a cameraman Coleman Laffoon, whom she met while working on a documentary about her ex DeGeneres. She was also pregnant with her son, Homer. The couple divorced in 2009.
Oldenburg wrote of the book’s biggest highlights:
- Heche had herpes at age 8; the sexual abuse by father Donald Heche, a closeted gay man, may have started while she was still in diapers and continued until she was 12 years old. She and her three siblings were often beaten with a wooden spoon. Heche’s father, a choir director at a Baptist church who frequented gay bars, died of AIDS in 1983.
- She explained what really happened one day in Fresno in 2000 when she was found wandering and mumbling about a spaceship. The day was the culmination of his “madness”. She had taken an ecstasy pill, which she had taken because she needed to get on a spaceship in heaven to find love. Celestia, a name for her alternate personality, was part of an “imaginary world” she created to escape the real world of violence. A particularly intense episode occurred for 12 days after the filming of “Donnie Brasco”. She says stigmata – bleeding marks resembling crucifixion wounds – appeared on her feet, and she had a vision that she would have “the next Immaculate Conception”.
- His brother committed suicide at the age of 23, by driving a car off the road.
- She had a two-year romance with Steve Martin before meeting DeGeneres.
- She said her relationship with DeGeneres was a “marriage” in terms of commitment to each other. Their separation had “nothing to do with sexuality”.
Can I get a copy of Anne Heche’s book?
“Call Me Crazy” is out of print, meaning it’s no longer being released. There are copies of the book for sale on Amazon, but after his death they are now listed as “collectibles”, with prices ranging from $300 to $950.
Copies can also be found in libraries nationwide, but they are becoming increasingly difficult to find. USA TODAY staff members searched their local libraries for the book, but found they were all already on loan.
The book was published by Scribner and released on September 4, 2001. “Call Me Crazy” entered USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list on September 13 at No. 65 and remained on the list for two weeks. The world would then be occupied by the September 11 attacks on the United States.
USA TODAY has contacted Scribner for more information.
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Has Heche written more books?
Heche may have been working on another book, a follow-up to his memoirs, before his death, but the details are unclear.
In a posthumously released podcast episode of “Behind the Velvet Rope,” released on Tuesday, Heche told host David Yontef that his “next book” was called “Call Me Sane” and was the “flip” of his first book.
“It’s the practice of how to overcome abuse and begin the process of living in love with yourself, engaging with others, and living in love with kindness when you can offer yourself fully to others. ability,” she said. .
During the podcast, she also revealed that if a biopic was made about her life, she would want Miley Cyrus or Kristen Bell to play her.
“Both share a personality and an ability to take on the world in a way that I feel like I have and would like to see represented,” she said.
Contributor: Edward Segarra
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time of day or night or chat online.
Crisis Text Line provides free confidential 24/7 support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.
If you are a sexual assault survivor, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE and online.rainn.org).
After:Anne Heche revealed who she wanted to play her in a biopic, months before her death
