Heche died from smoke inhalation, thermal injuries: Coroner

(NewsNation) — The death of Anne Heche has been officially declared an accident.

Heche, who was involved in a fiery car crash on Aug. 5 died of “smoke inhalation and thermal injuries,” according to a report from the Los Angeles County coroner.

Heche was hospitalized and remained in a coma after the accident, in which her car caught on fire after she crashed into a home in Mar Vista. She was taken off life support on Sunday.

Heche, who starred in the movies “Donnie Brasco,” “Wag the Dog” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” struggled for decades with the fallout from a troubled childhood and was part of a groundbreaking same-sex couple in the 1990s.

The winner of a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991 for her roles as identical twin sisters in the NBC soap opera “Another World,” Heche starred in the 1998 adventure comedy “Six Days Seven Nights” with Harrison Ford and played alongside Demi Moore and Cher in the HBO TV movie “If These Walls Could Talk.”

She became one half of Hollywood’s most famous same-sex couple at the time when she dated comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres. Against the wishes of her studio, Heche came out publicly at the 1997 red carpet premiere for disaster film “Volcano,” taking DeGeneres along as her date.

Reuters contributed to this report.