MAR VISTA, Calif. – Actress Anne Heche is in critical condition Saturday after crashing her car into a home in Mar Vista and sparking a fire, according to multiple media reports.
The crash was reported shortly before 11 a.m. Friday at a house in the 1700 block of South Walgrove Avenue, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
TMZ identified the driver of the vehicle — a blue Mini Cooper — as Heche, though Officer Tony Im of the Los Angeles Police Department said he could not confirm the driver’s identity. CNN and several celebrity friends of the actress have confirmed that she was behind the wheel.
Media outlets have also reported that the car is registered to an Anne Heche, and ABC7 reported DMV and police sources also confirmed the Mini Cooper is registered to the actress.
A source close to Heche told CNN on Saturday morning that Heche is “in the ICU, she’s lucky to be alive. She has severe burns and has a long recovery ahead. Her team and her family are still trying to process what led up to the crash.”
Driving on Preston Way, a one-way street, Heche ran a stop sign at the Walgrove intersection and drove through some large privacy bushes before the car came to rest inside the house, according to KTLA.
Humphrey said the vehicle “struck and came to rest well within a 738- square-foot two-story home, built in 1952, causing structural compromise and erupting in heavy fire prior to LAFD arrival.
“Fifty-nine firefighters took 65 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure, and rescue one female adult found within the vehicle, who has been taken to an area hospital by LAFD paramedics in critical condition,” Humphrey’s statement continued.
No other injuries were reported.
TMZ said Heche initially got into a minor collision at a Mar Vista- area apartment complex, crashing into a wall in a parking area, but drove away as people nearby tried to help. The crash into the home occurred a short time later.
Surveillance video posted on social media shows the car speeding down the street.
The website said Heche is intubated but expected to survive.
Heche, 53, rose to fame on the soap opera “Another World,” where she played the dual role of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love from 1987 to 1991 and won a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance.
She also had roles in several films including “Donnie Brasco,” “Six Days, Seven Nights,” “Wag the Dog,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and director Gus Van Sant’s remake of “Psycho.”
Heche has also appeared on several television shows including “Ally McBeal,” “Chicago P.D.” and a recurring role on the series “All Rise.” In June, she signed on to star in Lifetime’s “Girl in Room 13,” which is set to premiere this fall.
The Ohio native had a high-profile romance with comedian-actress and former talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres from March 1997 until they broke up in August 2000 and has a 20-year-old son, Homer Heche Laffoon, with ex-husband Coleman `Coley’ Laffoon.
