Retired producer says Anne Heche threw interview tape into NYC sewer over rumors
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Anne Heche didn’t just avoid the rumors – after the heated allegations with Fran Weinstein, she is reportedly holding herself back.
The former host of “Entertainment Tonight” learned the hard way how the late actor can protect his romance with Ellen DeGeneres. Weinstein wrote a memoir, “The Tormented Servants,” recounting his pursuit of the rich and famous behind the velvet ropes.
In 1998, Weinstein was in talks with Heche about a remake of “Psycho,” starring Vince Vaughn. At the time, Heche was dating DeGeneres, but there were rumors that he was dating the actress, Weinstein said.
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Retired “Entertainment Tonight” producer Fran Weinstein said she had a falling out with actress Anne Heche (pictured here in 1998) during an audition for the “Psycho” remake. (Photos by Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty)
“After asking some random questions, I asked him, ‘How nice was it to meet Vince Vaughn again?'” Weinstein told Fox News Digital. “Because they had just done a movie before that. And he said, ‘Oh, it was really fun. He was amazing.’ Then his eyes opened like a lake because he saw that I was going forward.”
“So I said, ‘Well, there were rumors that you guys were an item while you were doing the movie,'” Weinstein recalled. “Oh! My God. He just dropped his jaw and said I don’t want you to talk about it. I don’t want anyone to know about this. I don’t want my girlfriend to know about it.”
Anne Heche attends the premiere of “Return to Paradise” at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California. (SGranitz/WireImage)
“He had just met Ellen DeGeneres,” Weinstein said. “Their relationship was new, and I think he didn’t want anything to spoil the water, we’ll say.”
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Heche told Weinstein repeatedly that he did not want to discuss the gossip. A veteran of the entertainment industry confirmed to him that they are continuing. They talked for another 15 minutes about Heche’s Christmas plans with DeGeneres. The conversation is over — or so Weinstein thought.
“He gets up, goes to the door, says thank you and says goodbye,” Weinstein said. “He hits his head and says to me, ‘I don’t want you to use that stuff about me and Vince Vaughn.’ I said, ‘No problem. I told you I wouldn’t. Have a nice day.’
Anne Heche stands in the shower in a scene from the 1998 film “Psycho.” (Universal/Getty Images)
“The crew and I are now gathering, and I hear a knock on the door. It’s the studio announcer. He goes, ‘Fran, you want a tape.’ I said, ‘What? That doesn’t happen. We don’t do that. That’s my notebook. Just tell him everything is fine. I’m moving forward. I don’t use stuff about Vince Vaughn.’ He said, ‘Okay, I’ll tell him.’
Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn attend the premiere of “Back to Paradise” at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California, on Aug. 10, 1998. (Ron Galella Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images)
“We’re still collecting,” Weinstein continued. “The next thing I know, there’s someone else knocking on the door. Now he’s his personal spokesperson. He said, ‘You want the tape back.’ I said, ‘He’s not getting the tape, OK? This is a dangerous example, and we are not setting it now.’ He said, ‘If you don’t give him the tape, you’ll never get another interview with him again.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care.’ I slammed the door.”
“The Tortured Heels: High Heels, Low Expectations and the Hollywood Gossip Mill” by Fran Weinstein is available now. (Atmosphere Press)
“We get to the elevators, too [out came] Anne Heche,” he said. “I shake my finger in her face: ‘You can’t find the tape.’ He starts yelling at me: ‘You don’t respect me! You disrespect my girlfriend!'”
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Actress Ellen Degeneres (left) and her girlfriend, actress Anne Heche (right), arrive at Mann’s Village Theater in Westwood, California, for the premiere of the thriller “Sphere.” The film is directed by Barry Levinson. (Hector Mata/AFP)
The two women are alleged to have started a shouting match inside the Weinstein’s St. hotel. Regis in New York City, where an interview had just taken place. As Heche chain smoked, Weinstein sprayed him with lavender scent, he said.
Weinstein, exhausted from the back and forth, decided to lie down on his bed. He called the move “my fatal mistake.”
Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche attend PETA Honors The Animal Rights Movement at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California. (KMazur/WireImage)
“I just felt like this spirit came over me,” Weinstein said. “It was like there was a ghost in the room. I looked up, and he was gone. And guess what? My tape is gone.”
Actress Anne Heche is interviewed by host Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” on June 19, 1998. (Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal)
Furious, Weinstein stormed out of the hotel hallway, threatening to call the police. A panicked studio announcer chased after him, he said, begging him to get off because “it’s going to be in the papers.”
Unnerved, Weinstein kicked in Heche’s apartment door. He said he found the actress cool doing her makeup.
Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres split in 2000 after about three and a half years together. (Photos by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty)
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Heche allegedly replied when asked about the loss of the tape.
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Actress Anne Heche poses for a photo in Los Angeles, California, in April 1998. (Aaron Rapoport/Getty Images)
Weinstein wrote that by the time the police were alerted, Heche and his team were already on a plane back to Hollywood. This incident made headlines. At the time, the attorney said Heche “finished the interview, he never took the tape with him and he doesn’t have it now,” Page Six reported.
To this day, Weinstein does not know what happened to his tape. But he has his theories.
Anne Heche died in 2022 after a car crash in Los Angeles. (Amy Sussman/Anonymous)
“Years later, I was told by a very good source that he ordered the person he was traveling with to throw the tape into the New York City sewer,” Weinstein said. “He didn’t seem to remember anything.”
Heche’s manager told Fox News Digital in a statement: “That account is inaccurate. It’s disappointing to see fake news spread at a time when honesty and respect should come first. The focus should be on honoring his memory, not rewriting it to sell books.”
Actress Anne Heche poses for a photo in Los Angeles, California, in April 1998. (Aaron Rapoport/Getty Images)
The Emmy winner died in 2022 at the age of 53 after being injured in a car accident in Los Angeles. His death was found to be accidental.
Weinstein, who is retired, said Heche was not the only star who left him with a story he will never forget.
Judy Sheindlin attends the annual Power of Love gala hosted by Keep Memory Alive at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 22, 2025. (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for Keeping the Memory Alive)
In the mid-’90s, Judith Sheindlin of “Judge Judy” fame opened the doors of her Connecticut-style Tudor home to “Entertainment Tonight.” By then, Weinstein had interviewed the famous TV judge several times, and the couple became friends over the years and bonded over bagels.
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Judge Judy Sheindlin appears on the set of her television show in Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 2, 1997. (Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images)
But when the cameras stopped rolling this time, Weinstein casually asked her, “Don’t you know if there’s anyone you can set me up with?”
Sheindlin snapped, “Frannie, you don’t need a man. I’ll show you what you need. Follow me.”
Judge Judy, Judith Sheindlin, poses for a photo in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 14, 1997. (Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Weinstein said that as they walked into Sheindlin’s “incredibly luxurious bedroom,” she said to herself, “Dear Lord, please don’t let this be a weird sex toy.”
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Sheindlin climbed a ladder and pulled out a “container shaped like a shoebox.” He jumped over his Italian linens and pulled out a .32 caliber pistol.
“Frannie, this is what you need,” Sheindlin told Weinstein. “[My husband] Jerry was away for the weekend. I put this under my pillow, and I slept like a baby.”
Judith “Judge Judy” Sheindlin and her husband, Judge Jerry Sheindlin, are backstage at the Broadway comedy “The Performers” at the Longacre Theater in New York City on Nov. 10, 2012. (Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
“I was like, ‘Okay, no more questions, your honor,'” Weinstein said with a chuckle.
For the record, Weinstein did not take his advice.
Judge Judy Sheindlin is interviewed on the set of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Oct. 4, 2016. (Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sheindlin’s attorney for comment. She told Page Six, “I don’t remember the Fran Weinstein event. But, if I do, I’d like to praise her for it — she’s brilliant!”
