Anne Heche Hitched!

Ellen's ex marries cameraman Coley Laffoon in Los Angeles ceremony

By Marcus Errico Sep 03, 2001 8:35 PMTags
Do you think Ellen opted for the china or the his-and-hers towels?

Anne Heche, formerly one-half of Hollywood's highest-profile lesbian couple, married cameraman Coley Laffoon Saturday.

The nuptials come a little more than a year after she and Ellen DeGeneres called it quits.

The ceremony took place near downtown Los Angeles in front of 73 friends and family members, Heche's publicist says. DeGeneres was apparently not on the invite list.

Heche reportedly met Laffoon last summer while--ironically--working on a documentary about Ellen's return to stand-up comedy. The two began dating last October and announced their engagement in May.

It is the first marriage for the 32-year-old Heche. The 27-year-old Laffoon isn't, however, Heche's first male companion. Prior to her relationship with DeGeneres, the star of Psycho and Six Days, Seven Nights was linked to Steve Martin and actor Richard Burgi.

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 not fast enough for Anne and Ellen.

In August 2000, 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 wandering dazed through a rural stretch of Central California.

In a much-hyped interview with Barbara Walters airing Wednesday on ABC's 20/20, Heche blames her post-split meltdown on her own fragile mental state. "I was told to go to a place where I would meet a spaceship. I was told in order to get on the spaceship, that I would have to take a hit of Ecstasy. Again, a voice. All of this, justification for the end of the journey. I did go to a house. I did ask people to join me...I did go to the hospital."

Heche tells Walters that her late father sexually abused her, causing her to become "insane," develop a second personality (named Celestia) and frequently have conversations with God. Heche says she has since recovered from any mental illness.

Heche also says DeGeneres was the first women she had ever been with, but adds that the two have not spoken since their breakup.

In the past few months, Heche has been busy shooting John Q, a film starring Denzel Washington, and had a recurring role on Ally McBeal as a Tourette's Syndrome sufferer. She's also developing a sitcom with Warner Bros. Television.

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

(updated 9/5/01 at 11:45 a.m. PT)