Retired producer claims Anne Heche threw interview tape in NYC sewer over rumor

Anne Heche did not simply dodge rumors — after an alleged fiery faceoff with Fran Weinstein, she reportedly took issues into her personal palms.

The former “Entertainment Tonight” producer discovered the exhausting manner how the late actress would go to nice lengths to guard her romance with Ellen DeGeneres. Weinstein wrote a memoir, “Tortured Soles,” chronicling her high-heeled chase of the wealthy and well-known behind velvet ropes.

In 1998, Weinstein was interviewing Heche for the remake of “Psycho,” co-starring Vince Vaughn. At the time, Heche was courting DeGeneres, however there have been whispers she had an on-set romance with the actor, Weinstein claimed.

FORMER ‘PRICE IS RIGHT’ MODEL EXPOSES DARK TRUTH ABOUT BOB BARKER ERA

“After asking the perfunctory questions, I requested her, ‘How a lot enjoyable was it to reunite with Vince Vaughn?'” Weinstein advised Fox News Digital. “Because they had just done a movie before that. And she said, ‘Oh, it was really fun. ‘He was awesome.’ Then her eyes opened like a sinkhole because she saw I was going further.”

“And so I said, ‘Well, rumor had it that you guys were an item while making the movie,'” Weinstein recalled. “Oh, my God. Her jaw dropped to the floor, and she said, ‘I don’t want you to talk about it. I don’t want anybody to know about this. I don’t want my girlfriend to know about it.'”

Anne Heche attends the “Return to Paradise” premiere at Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California. (SGranitz/WireImage)

“She had just gotten together with Ellen DeGeneres,” stated Weinstein. “Their romance was new, and I guess she just didn’t want anything to muddy the waters, shall we say.”

WATCH: TV PRODUCER DETAILS ALLEGED FIGHT OVER ANNE HECHE INTERVIEW IN NEW BOOK

Heche repeatedly advised Weinstein she did not wish to talk about the gossip. The entertainment news veteran assured her they had been shifting on. They spoke for an additional quarter-hour about Heche’s Christmas plans with DeGeneres. The interview was over — or so Weinstein thought.

“She gets up, walks to the door, we say thanks and goodbye,” Weinstein stated. “She whips her head around 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 a bathe in a scene from the 1998 movie “Psycho.” (Universal/Getty Images)

“The crew and I are now packing up, and I hear a knock at the door. It’s the studio publicist. She goes, ‘Fran, she wants the tape.’ I said, ‘What? That’s not happening. We don’t do that. That’s my notebook. Just tell her it’s all good. I’m moving on. I’m not using the stuff about Vince Vaughn.’ She said, ‘OK, I’ll tell her.'”

Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn attend the premiere of “Return to Paradise” at Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California, on Aug. 10, 1998. (Ron Galella Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images)

“We’re still packing up,” Weinstein continued. “Next thing I know, there’s another knock at the door. Now it’s her personal publicist. He said, ‘She wants the tape back.’ I said, ‘She’s not getting the tape, OK? This is a dangerous precedent, and we’re not setting it now.’ He said, ‘If you don’t give her the tape, you’ll never get another interview with her again.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care.’ I slammed the door.”

“Tortured Soles: High Heels, Low Expectations and the Hollywood Gossip Mill” by Fran Weinstein is out there now. (Atmosphere Press)

“We get to the elevators, and [out came] Anne Heche,” she stated. “I’m wagging my finger in her face: ‘You’re not getting the tape.’ She starts screaming at me: ‘You don’t respect me! You don’t respect my girlfriend!'”

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

Ellen Degeneres, left, and her girlfriend, Anne Heche, arrive at Mann’s Village Theater in Westwood, California, for the premiere of the action-thriller movie “Sphere.” The film was directed by Barry Levinson. (Hector Mata/AFP)

The two ladies allegedly erupted right into a heated shouting match inside Weinstein’s St. Regis resort suite in New York Citythe place the interview had simply taken place. As Heche chain-smoked, Weinstein sprayed her with a lavender scent, she claimed.

Weinstein, exhausted by the back-and-forth, determined to lie down on her mattress. She known as the transfer “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 wind came over me,” stated Weinstein. “It was like a ghost had been in the room. I looked up, and she’s gone. And guess what? My tape is gone.”

Anne Heche is interviewed by host Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” on June 19, 1998. (Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal)

Enraged, Weinstein stormed out and stormed by way of the resort hallway, threatening to name the police. A panicked studio publicist chased after her, she stated, begging her to face down as a result of “it’ll get in the papers.”

Unfazed, Weinstein kicked open the door to Heche’s suite. She stated she discovered the actress coolly getting her make-up accomplished.

Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres broke up in 2000 after about three and a half years collectively. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Heche allegedly replied when requested in regards to the lacking tape.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Actress Anne Heche poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, California, in April 1998. (Aaron Rapoport/Getty Images)

Weinstein wrote that by the point police had been alerted, Heche and her crew had been already on a aircraft heading again to Hollywood. The incident went on to make headlines. At the time, a rep stated that Heche “finished the interview, never left with the tape and doesn’t have it now,” Page Six reported.

To today, Weinstein does not know what occurred to his tape. But she does have her theories.

Anne Heche died in 2022 after a automobile collision in Los Angeles. (Amy Sussman/Unknown)

“Years later, I was told by a pretty good source that she had instructed this person in her entourage to throw the tape into a New York City sewer,” Weinstein stated. “She seemed to have no collection of anything.”

Heche’s supervisor advised Fox News Digital in a press release: “That account is inaccurate. It’s disappointing to see untrue narratives circulate at a time when honesty and respect should come first. The focus should be on honoring her memory, not rewriting it to sell books.”

Anne Heche poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, in April 1998. (Aaron Rapoport/Getty Images)

The Emmy winner died in 2022 at age 53 after struggling accidents in a Los Angeles automobile crash. Her dying was dominated unintended.

Weinstein, now retired, stated Heche wasn’t the one star to depart her with a narrative she’d always remember.

Judy Sheindlin attends the annual Power of Love gala hosted by Keep Memory Alive at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 22, 2025. (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for Keep Memory Alive)

In the mid-’90s, Judith Sheindlin of “Judge Judy” fame opened the doorways to her Tudor-style Connecticut residence to “Entertainment Tonight.” By then, Weinstein had interviewed the legendary TV choose numerous occasions, and the pair turned pleasant over the years and bonded over bagels.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Judge Judy Sheindlin seems on the set of her tv present in Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 2, 1997. (Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images)

But when cameras stopped rolling this time round, Weinstein casually requested her, “Don’t you know anybody you could set me up with?”

Sheindlin barked again, “Frannie, you don’t need a man. I’m going to show you what you need. Follow me.”

Judith Sheindlin poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 14, 1997. (Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Weinstein stated that as they walked to Sheindlin’s “incredibly plush bedroom,” she thought to herself, “Dear Lord, please don’t let this be a weird sex toy.”

WATCH: JUDGE JUDY’S DATING ADVICE TO A TV PRODUCER TOOK A WILD TURN: BOOK

Sheindlin climbed up a step stool and pulled a “shoebox-shaped receptacle.” She plopped it on prime of her Italian linens and pulled out a .32-caliber pistol.

“Frannie, this is what you need,” Sheindlin advised Weinstein. “[My husband] Jerry was gone for the weekend. I had this under my pillow, and I slept like a baby.”

Judith “Judge Judy” Sheindlin and her husband, Judge Jerry Sheindlin, pose backstage on the comedy “The Performers” on Broadway on the Longacre Theater in New York City on Nov. 10, 2012. (Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)

“I was like, ‘OK, no further questions, your honor,'” Weinstein chuckled.

For the document, Weinstein didn’t take her recommendation.

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 reached out to Sheindlin’s rep for remark. She advised Page Six“I have no recollection of the event Fran Weinstein references. However, if I did remember it, I would like to take credit for it — it’s brilliant!”