Anne Heche Addresses Ellen's Problems, Along With Their Legacy in LGBTQ Culture

As Ellen Degeneres' saga continues, her Anne Heche commented on her ex's current image issues and their place in LGBTQ time line in an interview published on the Mr. Warburton website.

"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?"

She paused to take a breath. "Ellen is standing where she walks, and that is hers to continue that journey. Our time was a beautiful part of my life and one that I wear with honor. I was a part of a revolution that created social change, and I could not have done that without falling in love with her."

They dated for three years in the late 1990s, making them the highest profile LGBTQ couple at the time. While considered a landmark relationship in LGBTQ history, they were often derided at the time for being so public about their relationship. At the time, she recalls in a lengthy interview on the website Mr. Warburton, that she was told if she brought DeGeneres to the premiere of "Volcano," a film she costarred in with Tommy Lee Jones, "my contract would be terminated."

"I brought Ellen despite those threats, and we were escorted out of the theater before the lights came on by security and not allowed to attend the premiere party because they did not want any photos of us together."

She did get support from fellow actors. Harrison Ford insisted Heche co-star with him in "Six Days, Seven Nights," telling her "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn who you are fucking. Let's make the best romantic comedy anyone has ever seen!" And Alec Baldwin, who insisted Heche be his co-star in a Broadway revival of the 1930s comedy "Twentieth Century," for which she received a 2004 Tony nomination.

But says the difference in the way she was treated only indicates the seismic cultural change out actors would get in Hollywood. "The difference between what would happen today and what happened then is that I would not have been ushered out of my own premiere and fired from a multi-million dollar picture deal with Fox for taking a girl as my date," she told Mr. Warburton.

"I'm proud to have been part of a revolution that helped move equality forward, but there is still work to do," Anne says when speaking on the parallels between the fight for LGBTQ rights and the current fight against racial injustice. Anne, no stranger to standing for equal rights, is ready and willing to do so once again. She remarks, "I've paved this way for myself, and my honesty had every single thing to do with it. I think every interaction we have should begin with whether or not we can look at and talk to other human beings with 100% respect. My answer will always be 'yes.' We have to agree that it's a possibility and that we all deserve it."