'Donnie Brasco' star Anne Heche taken off life support 9 days after car crash

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Anne Heche has been taken off life support, two days after she was declared legally dead from brain injuries sustained in a car crash in Los Angeles, her spokeswoman said.

Heche, known for 1990s movies "Donnie Brasco" and "Six Days, Seven Nights" as well as a relationship with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, had been comatose since driving her car into a building on August 5.

Her body had been kept on life support until Sunday while organ donor options were explored, in accordance with her wishes, spokeswoman Holly Baird said.


"Anne Heche has been peacefully taken off life support," Baird told AFP Monday, without saying if organ recipients were found.

The violent car collision involving Heche earlier this month destroyed much of a two-story house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. Dozens of firefighters battled the ensuing blaze for more than an hour.

Preliminary tests of Heche's blood came back positive for narcotics, prompting a felony DUI probe, but Los Angeles police said investigations and efforts to file charges would cease after she was declared legally dead.

Celebrity media outlet TMZ, citing unnamed police sources, said Heche had tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl, with the latter sometimes used for pain relief in clinical settings.