Anne Heche has been pronounced "legally dead" following a devastating car crash in Los Angeles last week.
Per BBC News, a representative for the 53-year-old actor confirmed that despite being declared "legally dead", Heche's life support treatment will continue in the hopes that her organs can be matched and donated. "It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable," the representative's statement added.
The Psycho star's family also shared a statement in response to the heartbreaking news, saying: "Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul."
The statement continued: "Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy.
"Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact."
Heche had been in a coma for a week after crashing her car into a house in the neighborhood of Mar Vista in LA. The collision resulted in a "heavy fire" erupting, per the Los Angeles Fire Department. The blaze took 59 firefighters over an hour to extinguish.
CBS News reported how emergency services has to pull Heche out of the wreck before transporting her to the hospital.
Amazingly, nobody else was injured in the devastating collision.
Heche not only suffered burns as a result of the crash, but her family says she left with "a severe anoxic brain injury" - which starved her brain of oxygen.
In her 2001 memoir Call Me Crazy, Heche wrote about how her father passed away from HIV/Aids when she was just 13 years old. In her book, she also claimed that she had been repeatedly abused by her father when she was a child.
During a promotional interview with ABC's 20/20 promoting her memoir, Heche revealed how the abuse resulted in her escaping into a "fourth dimension" fantasy world, in which, she believed she was from another planet.
"It's a crazy life. I was raised in a crazy family and it took 31 years to get the crazy out of me," she said.
After her family moved to Chicago, Heche's acting skills were spotted by a talent agent while she was performing in a school play.
Her breakout role came in 1987, when she was cast as twins Marley Love and Vicky Hudson in Another World - roles that would earn her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards.
She would go on to captivate audiences with her roles in 1997's Volcano and Donnie Brasco, as well as the 1998 Psycho remake.
In 2004, she would receive both an Emmy nomination for her performance in the TV movie Gracie's Choice and a Tony nomination for her role opposite Alec Baldwin in the Broadway production of Twentieth Century.
Throughout the 00s, Heche would also land leading roles in the TV shows Men in Trees and Hung.
She also competed in the 29th season of Dancing with the Stars in 2020.
Heche is survived by her two children.
Our thoughts are with Heche's family, friends, and fans at this time.
