Ellen DeGeneres’ ex-girlfriend Anne Heche breaks silence on bullying allegations against TV host

Both Heche and DeGeneres suffered professional backlash after coming out as a couple in 1997

Anne Heche has urged people to “listen” to those who have made allegations against her ex-girlfriend Ellen DeGeneres.

Heche, who has appeared in films including Donnie Brasco, Volcano and the Psycho remake, was in a high-profile relationship with DeGeneres between the years 1997 and 2000.

The pair went public as a couple shortly after DeGeneres publicly came out as gay, with both receiving career backlash as a result.

Heche has now broken her silence on the accusations of “mean” behaviour levelled at DeGeneres, along with allegations of sexual misconduct, racism and bullying on the set of DeGeneres’s US talk show. DeGeneres herself has not been implicated in any workplace allegations.

“I haven’t spoken to Ellen in years,” Heche told Mr Warburton Magazine. “I’d listen to the people who have.”

She continued: “If I’m standing someplace and I don’t like what’s going on there and I stay there, it’s my fault. So what are the actions that got me there and why can’t I get out of it easily if that’s not something that I want to be engaged in? Ellen is standing where she walks, and that is hers to continue that journey.”

While Heche said that she has not been in contact with DeGeneres, she added that she has no regrets about their time together.

“Our time was a beautiful part of my life and one that I wear with honour,” Heche said. “I was a part of a revolution that created social change, and I could not have done that without falling in love with her.”

Heche suffered career backlash in the wake of her relationship with DeGeneres, with her role in the Harrison Ford romantic comedy Six Days Seven Nights threatened as a result. It was only after being publicly supported by Ford that she was permitted to remain in the role.

Employees at DeGeneres’s talk show were this week (17 August) told that steps are being taken to improve their work environment, following the findings of an internal investigation.