Actor Anne Heche said that she dressed “like a hippie” during the three years she was in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres because Ellen didn’t want her to “dress sexy.”
Speaking candidly on TikTok, the Emmy-nominated soap and independent film star talked about her “most iconic red carpet looks.”
Related: Rosie O’Donnell defends Ellen DeGeneres because “she has some social awkwardness”
After critiquing several looks, she got to a picture of her holding Ellen’s hand on a red carpet at the 1998 Golden Globe Awards.
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“Why do I look like a hippie?” Heche asked rhetorically. “It’s because Ellen didn’t want me to dress sexy.”
“Bye. No.”
Heche rated that outfit zero out of ten.
@annehecheoffical Not a single regret! #redcarpet #outfitinspo #TikTokGGT #fp @gregoryarltbeauty #oscars
DeGeneres and Heche dated from 1997 to 2000, announcing their relationship shortly after Ellen came out on her sitcom and stirred national controversy simply for saying she’s a lesbian. She lost her sitcom shortly after.
Heche said that she had only dated men before she dated Ellen, but she did not publicly label her sexuality.
“I would never limit myself to saying I would be with a man or a woman,” she said in a 2006 interview.
The couple appeared happy at the time, and they were even talking about getting a civil union in Vermont, years before marriage equality was legal in any state.
“They’d be saying that we are very excited and we’re very happy and in love three years later,” DeGeneres said in an interview in 2000.
“Yeah, we’re very lucky women, that we get to have what we have,” Heche added.
But months later, they broke up. A year later, Heche married Coleman Laffoon, a cameraman she met during Ellen’s stand-up comedy tour. They divorced in 2009.
In 2004, Ellen started dating actor Portia de Rossi, and they married in 2009. Portia has never said anything about not being allowed to dress sexy while with Ellen.
