Speculations are flying that Ellen and Anne are either taking 3 months or a year off from the spotlight. They have supposedly fired their agents and publicist..tho publicist Simon Halls still seems to be a contact for them. Also word is their Hancock Park residence is up for sale and they have moved to Santa Barbara. Whatever the case may be...they obviously need a break to just enjoy each other and do the everyday things we take for granted. Make no mistake...Ellen will be back, bigger and better...you can't keep a good girl down!!! So to everyone who has written to me in a very distressed manner...let them have a bit of fun, I am sure you can grant them that...Dec, 98
Lin:)
THE DAY after Christmas, Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche are supposed to move into new digs in Santa Barbara, Calif. Their Los Angeles house is on the market for $3.5 million. Ellen and Anne remain determined to "take a breather" from the fret and fever of Hollywood and hopefully escape a bit from their very public private lives.
LIZ SMITH...Dec 98
Ventura County Star, December 4, 1998
Ellen, Anne are scouting Ojai location
Colleen Cason, Star columnistNow that Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche have come out of the closet, the world's most famous lesbian couple wants to go into seclusion.
Comedian DeGeneres announced Tuesday she and her actress partner are leaving Hollywood lock, stock and hers-and-hers limos for a year's sabbatical. Their destination, according to DeGeneres: Ojai or SanFrancisco.
Say what? How can a stroll down the Arcade compare to cruising The Castro? Cafe Flore is a far cry from Ojai Frostie. Certainly, no one sees Ojai as the gay mecca that San Francisco is. But Paul Waters, who organized Ventura County's first gay pride festival, is confident the natives would be straight with the pair. After all, there wasn't one complaint when his gay square-dancing videotape aired on cable TV in Ojai.
"If they move to Ojai, they'll probably do it for the same reasons straight people do," he says. Might that be its rustic charm? Its metaphysical mystique? Or the pink moment – when the setting sun smiles on the Topa Topa Mountains? Or is it because Ojai is a great place to be a celebrity. The localsare hip enough to recognize you but cool enough not to point and stare?
And Wednesday at the Plaza Pantry, DeGeneres' announcement seemed to cause less of a buzz than the caffeinated coffee. The cafe's diplomatic owner would say only DeGeneres' news flash did spark conversation. But if the pair flees the spotlight of La-La Land for the seclusion of Shangri-La, they might find themselves hiding in plain sight.
Ojai once was an ideal spot to hole up and put a career on hold. It gave John and Yoko Lennon shelter from immigration troubles in the '70s. Moviemakers blacklisted during the '50s Red Scare took solace in those pink moments. But then potter Beatrice Wood put her spin on it. The late and legendary Mama of Dada was an irresistible spokes-artist for the valley's countless charms. These days actors run booming careers out of the 646 prefix.
Moving to Ojai was anything but a false move for Bill Paxton. The actor seems to appear in every third movie wrapped in Hollywood. No moss has gathered on the resumes of actors Mary Steenburgen, her former husband, Malcolm McDowell, and her current spouse, Ted Danson of "Cheers" fame.
Ojai might just be perfect for Ellen's and Anne's lives and careers. Sometimes, you have to go where everybody knows your name.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actresses Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche, who complained recently that ``coming out'' hurt their careers, now say they will never eat lunch in this town again.
``We've quit our agents, let go of our publicist, we're selling our house and leaving town,'' DeGeneres told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Tuesday.
The former star of ABC's ``Ellen,'' the first sitcom with a gay lead character whose ``coming out'' made TV history, told the Times she and Heche, who co-stars in the upcoming remake of ''Psycho,'' had decided ``to take at least a year off.'' Her agents and publicist were not immediately available for comment.
Her comments followed an interview with the two lesbian actresses in the Times Sunday Magazine in which they said that they had been treated unfairly and disrespectfully by major studios due to their relationship.
While they are reemerging with a spate of new films just six months after ABC canceled the sitcom ``Ellen,'' the actresses said in the magazine article they had been shunned by several studios and networks.
``Everything that I ever feared happened to me,'' DeGeneres was quoted as saying. ``I lost my show. I've been attacked like hell. I went from making a lot of money on a sitcom to making no money.''
Heche told the Times, ``I was told I would never work again.'' Heche is co-starring in Universal Pictures' ``Psycho'' remake, which opens Friday, and DeGeneres will be seen in three upcoming movies, including ``Goodbye Lover'' in December and ''edTV,'' a new Ron Howard comedy, next spring.
``Well, I can't say the offers are pouring in,'' said Heche, who said she learned that ``Fox won't hire me because they still have this bitterness about the timing of my falling in love with Ellen and the opening of 'Volcano.'''
Reuters/Variety - Dec 1, 98.
Ellen and Anne "Quitting" Hollywood
by Bridget Byrne
December 1, 1998, 1:25 p.m. PT
Ellen DeGeneres says she and her partner Anne Heche are never going to have lunch in this town again.
On Sunday, a Q&A interview appeared in the Los Angeles Times in which the high profile lovers both vociferously complained once again about how coming out had shut them out in Hollywood.
Then on Monday, DeGeneres told journalist Hilary de Vries, who conducted the earlier interview, "We've quit our agents, let go of our publicist, we're selling our home and leaving town." DeGeneres, who has trumpeted her sexual preference since falling in love with Heche, described the pair as "naive" in imagining that the Hollywood establishment would embrace them. Suggesting that the couple may relocate to Ojai (an artistic community north of Los Angeles) or to San Francisco she said, "I know everyone is going to say that our leaving is just another bid for attention."
However, the couple's publicist, Simon Halls, says he's still their publicist and that DeGeneres' quotes have been taken "out of context". He described the pair as "just exhausted" and needing time out. "As far as I know they have not fired their agents and > moving out of town is just something they're thinking about." Agent Jane Berliner's office at CAA referred calls to her lawyer.
Many in Hollywood, even in the gay and lesbian community, think that the couple's persecution complex only adds to their perceived problems. DeGeneres, long known as a closeted gay, was championed by the media and her many fans when she came out in April 1997 out, both personally and on her successful ABC sitcom Ellen. But soon star and network were fighting over show content, ratings fell and the series was off the air.
But Ellen kept on venting, during a period of "deep, deep depression" when she was not getting any job offers. "Everything that I ever feared happened to me. I lost my show. I've been attacked like hell. I went from making a lot of money on a sitcom to making no money," the seasoned complainer groused to the Times.
Heche also complained about truncated work opportunities because "there is not complete acceptance of openly gay people playing anything other than openly gay characters."
DeGeneres, who says she's turned down huge amounts of money to write a book about what happened, moaned on about what has happened for free. Among her targets: Christian Conservatives, Hollywood agents and executives both gay and straight, even sitcom star Drew Carey who she says "is so difficult" but still gets support and promotion from ABC. (He also gets laughs and ratings.)
Still, it's hard to believe the stars aren't getting any offers. DeGeneres hosted the VHI Fashion Awards earlier this month and she's getting good buzz for her upcoming role as a network executive similar to ABC's Jamie Tarses in edTV, due out in the spring. She also stars in Goodbye Lover opening in December, playing a bookstore owner, a role she described as making her feel "like I was in drag."
Heche, star of three films this past year, is next on screen in the remake of Psycho, opening this weekend. (This time costar Vince Vaughn, who was rumored to be romantically involved with Heche while making Return to Paradise, kills rather than kisses the blonde.)
But that doesn't mean DeGeneres is giving Psycho a thumb's up. She's not too excited that her lover is "part of this [violent] movie when we have such a problem with violence today."
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