Anne Heche had interview tape dumped in NYC sewer after clash to protect Ellen DeGeneres romance: book

Anne Heche didn’t just dodge rumors — after an alleged fiery faceoff with Fran Weinstein, she reportedly took matters into her own hands.

The former "Entertainment Tonight" producer learned the hard way how the late actress would go to great lengths to protect her romance with Ellen DeGeneres. Weinstein wrote a memoir, "Tortured Soles," chronicling her high-heeled chase of the rich and famous behind velvet ropes.

In 1998, Weinstein was interviewing Heche for the remake of "Psycho," co-starring Vince Vaughn. At the time, Heche was dating DeGeneres, but there were whispers she had an on-set romance with the actor, Weinstein claimed.

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"After asking the perfunctory questions, I asked her, ‘How much fun was it to reunite with Vince Vaughn?’" Weinstein told 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.’"

"She had just gotten together with Ellen DeGeneres," said Weinstein. "Their romance was new, and I guess she just did not want anything to muddy the waters, shall we say."

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Heche repeatedly told Weinstein she didn’t want to discuss the gossip. The entertainment news veteran assured her they were moving on. They spoke for another 15 minutes 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," said Weinstein. "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.’"

"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.’"

"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."

"We get to the elevators, and [out came] Anne Heche," she said. "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!'"

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The two women allegedly erupted into a heated shouting match inside Weinstein’s St. Regis hotel suite in New York City, where the interview had just taken place. As Heche chain-smoked, Weinstein sprayed her with a lavender scent, she claimed.

Weinstein, exhausted by the back-and-forth, decided to lie down on her bed. She called the move "my fatal mistake."

"I just felt like this wind came over me," said 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."

Enraged, Weinstein stormed out and tore through the hotel hallway, threatening to call the police. A panicked studio publicist chased after her, she said, begging her to stand down because "it’ll get in the papers."

Unfazed, Weinstein kicked open the door to Heche’s suite. She said she found the actress coolly getting her makeup done.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Heche allegedly replied when asked about the missing tape.

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Weinstein wrote that by the time police were alerted, Heche and her team were already on a plane heading back to Hollywood. The incident went on to make headlines. At the time, a rep said that Heche "finished the interview, never left with the tape and doesn’t have it now," Page Six reported.

To this day, Weinstein doesn’t know what happened to her tape. But she does have her theories.

"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," said Weinstein. "She seemed to have no recollection of anything."

Heche's manager told Fox News Digital in a statement: "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."

The Emmy winner died in 2022 at age 53 after suffering injuries in a Los Angeles car crash. Her death was ruled accidental.

Weinstein, now retired, said Heche wasn’t the only star to leave her with a story she’d never forget.

In the mid-‘90s, Judith Sheindlin of "Judge Judy" fame opened the doors to her Tudor-style Connecticut home to "Entertainment Tonight." By then, Weinstein had interviewed the legendary TV judge countless times, and the pair became friendly over the years and bonded over bagels.

But when cameras stopped rolling this time around, Weinstein casually asked her, "Don’t you know anybody you could set me up with?"

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

Weinstein said 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."

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

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

"I was like, ‘OK, no further questions, your honor,’" Weinstein chuckled.

For the record, Weinstein did not take her advice.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sheindlin’s rep for comment. She told 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!"