Anne Heche achieved a meteoric rise, whereby she was headed to superstardom. In the late 1990s, she was on deck to become the biggest female movie star in Hollywood.

Heche had breakthrough performances in Donnie Brasco (1997) and the romantic comedy, Six Days, Seven Nights with Harrison Ford in 1998.

However, everything changed for Heche following her decision to go public about her personal relationship with Ellen DeGeneres.

As hard as this is to believe now, just one generation ago, America was not ready to accept a prominent gay relationship and Heche paid a heavy professional price for it.

It unjustly cost Heche a multi-film, $10 million dollar deal that she had earned. Her life spiraled downward after the public disclosure and subsequent break-up with DeGeneres.

What many people in South Jersey may not know is that Anne Heche lived in and went to school in Ventnor, New Jersey.

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Here is a photo of Heche (left) standing out front of the Ventnor Middle School in 1979 with Amanda Senoff.

Barry Orlow photo.
Donna Senoff photo.
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Barry Orlow, who we have known for nearly a lifetime wrote a very profound social media post about Anne Heche yesterday:

“We all seem to treat "celebrities" like they're not real people. And, maybe sometimes they aren't. Anne Heche was a real person," said Orlow.

“I know because she lived in my hometown of Ventnor, NJ when we were kids. Her older brother was in my class and she was in my younger brother's class. We later learned the true extent of the horrors of her childhood.

“Her brother Nate died right after we graduated from (Ocean City) high school in 1983. Anne always maintained that it was a suicide.

“She was probably right. She was a real person and now she's gone. That's a terrible loss
in my opinion because the Heche's were good kids. Rest In Peace, Anne,” concluded Orlow.

As it turns out, this is not only a national story with the passing of Anne Heche (53) in a fiery car crash on August 12, 2022. It is also a prominent local Ventnor, New Jersey story.

SOURCE: Barry Orlow.

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