Anne Heche Engaged

Less than a year after splitting with Ellen DeGeneres, actress engaged to cameraman Coley Laffoon

By Mark Armstrong May 31, 2001 1:00 AMTags
Ellen who?

Anne Heche, formerly one-half of Hollywood's highest-profile lesbian couple, is engaged...to a man.

Less than a year after she and Ellen DeGeneres called it quits, Heche has accepted a wedding proposal from her boyfriend, cameraman Coley Laffoon, her manager, Lauren Lloyd, confirmed to E! News Daily Wednesday.

No word yet on a wedding date.

Heche reportedly met Laffoon last summer while--ironically--working on a documentary about Ellen's return to stand-up comedy. Laffoon isn't, however, Heche's first boyfriend--prior to her relationship with DeGeneres, the star of Psycho and Six Days, Seven Nights was linked to Steve Martin and actor Richard Burgi.

Heche has been dating Laffoon since October, but based on her recent shopping habits, the tabloids have reported things have gotten serious. Heche, 32, was spotted last week looking for a gown in the bridal department of Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Just a year ago, Heche would've been more likely to don a wedding gown for a different ceremony: She and DeGeneres once planned to tie the knot in Vermont if the state's Supreme Court legalized same-sex unions.

The high court allowed it, but that wasn't fast enough for Anne and Ellen.

In August, Hollywood's best-known lesbian couple announced they had split up after three and a half years together, calling it an "amicable parting." Hours after news of the split broke, Heche was found dazed (and barely clothed) during a strange walking adventure through rural Fresno County.

Since then, both women have moved on. Heche went to work on John Q, a film starring Denzel Washington, and later guest-starred in a handful of Ally McBeal episodes, playing a Tourette's Syndrome sufferer.

DeGeneres, meanwhile, is returning to series television this fall with The Ellen Show, a new CBS sitcom costarring Cloris Leachman and Martin Mull. DeGeneres will play a lesbian Internet executive who flees the big city and returns to her Midwestern hometown. The 43-year-old comedian also is set to host this year's Emmy Awards, also on CBS.