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By Paul Iorio
It was one of the big celebrity stories of the nineties: Ellen DeGeneres, star of a hit television series, was secretly, romantically involved with a mostly unknown actress named Anne Heche. And I was the first reporter to publicly link the two, in an article I wrote and reported for The San Francisco Chronicle in April 1997.
Here's the timeline of the evolution of that blockbuster revelation.
April 3, 1997: I received a phone call from my editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, who wanted me to do a profile of an obscure new actress named Anne Heche, who was co-starring in what would become a very forgotten action film with Tommy Lee Jones called "Volcano."
It was a tight turnaround for the Sunday Chronicle for $300, my editor said; I'd have to see Heche's new flick at a private screening on April 5th, interview her one-on-one on the 6th and file the story (via this new contraption called email) by 3:30 p.m. on the 7th. I had a weekend free from my freelance work for Reuters and others, so I took the assignment.
My editor and I of course had no idea at the time that Heche and DeGeneres were an item, and that she was about to become the epicenter of a mediaquake.
This being my first piece for The Chronicle, I wanted to do a super job, so I spent as many hours as possible watching everything she'd appeared in, from the TV production "O Pioneers" to the indie picture "Walking and Talking." By the time I finished my research, I was a bit of a Heche expert -- and in a position to pick her out in a crowd, if I had to.
* * *
April 5, 1997, five p.m.: I was on the sidewalk of the Four Seasons's front driveway in Beverly Hills, at 300 S. Doheny, waiting for a bus to take me to the "Volcano" screening
As I stood next to members of the rock band The Primitive Radio Gods, who were there for an unrelated reason, a white Porsche Carrera drove into the semi-circular driveway and out stepped none other than Ellen DeGeneres, waving to a glamorous woman in sunglasses, who quickly walked over to her. They hugged and kissed and laughed. I took notes:
The woman DeGeneres was so excited to see was Heche. At that time, it had not been reported that the two even knew each other. (To those who say "rumors-were-flying-everywhere-at-the-time," my response is: if rumors were flying, then why did no one at any publication ever mention their relationship in print until I did?)
Nobody else seemed to recognize the woman in sunglasses -- she was that anonymous at the time -- but I did, having seen almost all her work.
Anyway, I made a note to myself to ask Heche about DeGeneres when I saw her the next day.
* * *
April 6, 1997, 2:20 PM: I was ushered into Heche's room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. The only people present were Heche, me and my tape recorder. I had around an hour to ask her anything I wanted.
After asking a few questions about her new movie, I mentioned that I'd seen her and DeGeneres together in the driveway the day before.
I asked her, "Are you two friends?" And she confirmed that they were indeed -- which is further than any other reporter had gone! (Sadly, I didn't exactly have probable cause to ask, "Are you lovers?")
Let me say this about her response: The thing about Anne Heche at age 25 was that, when you saw her up close and in-person, she had the sort of unblemished, fair skin that sort of gave her away. If she blushed even a little bit, you could tell. Her blushing was sort of like a lie detector.
So, as soon as I asked her about what I'd witnessed the day before, I could see her white skin turn a bright red, like Christmas lights shining on the snow, and at that point I knew I had some sort of scoop.
As modest as her remarks were about DeGeneres, my interview and article mark the first time Heche had ever spoken publicly about her. My audiotaped interview unfolded like this:
* * *
April 6, 1997, 5pm: Back home at my apartment in Los Angeles, I had mere hours to write up the profile. I finished it at around 11 p.m., but emailing it to the newspaper was going to be a challenge, given that I did not yet have a personal computer -- or a car, for that matter. (Yes, the only reporter in Los Angeles without a car was the one who broke the celeb story of the year!)
* * *
April 7, 1:40 a.m.: I took the Santa Monica Blvd. bus around midnight to the nearest Kinko's, where I then proceeded to navigate through Netscape Navigator to "modem" the story to my editor, "modem" being a verb for email back when. (I wrote on the manuscript "1:40 AM," to note when I began my computer time, because I was being charged by the minute.
I sent it around 2:30 a.m., thirteen hours before deadline. Took the bus back home at around 3 a.m. and slept till noon.
* * *
April 16, 1997: This being an article for the Sunday paper, I had to wait nine days to see it in print.
Early editions of the Sunday Chronicle with my story in it were circulating on the 16th throughout the Bay Area, ahead of widespread distribution that weekend. The first piece linking Ellen and Anne -- mine -- was now on the stands and on front lawns, and the volcano was about to blow. Within the week, every media outlet would be writing about their romance and trying to get an interview with the actress I'd just interviewed.
* * *
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April 20, 1997: The formal publication date. And the story ran exactly as I wrote it (except "wide" was changed to "widely" by an editor). Needless to say, my editors were thrilled with my inaugural piece for the paper (which led to four continuous years of writing for the Chronicle, including a stint as a staff writer/reporter there).
* * *
The Heche/DeGeneres relationship ultimately lasted three years; and Heche died on August 12th at age 53.
