Anne Heche is explaining why she stormed off Dancing With the Stars following her elimination. Heche left the set as soon as the show wrapped and refused to talk to the press, Page Six reports. Before her performance, she opened up about her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, and discussed the scrutiny their relationship faced.
She tells Page Six that the elimination, coupled with her opening up, left her feeling raw. She says: “The honest truth is that it took 20 years to process and share that story, so finally, telling it and being voted off on the same night was not the best feeling. It did feel good to tell my story to show that we have come a long way, and we see things with more acceptance now –even though we are not all the way there yet, it’s important to recognize how far we have come.”
Her exit came after a bizarre eviction blunder when new host Tyra Banks told Cheer star Monica Aldama that she and Val Chmerkovskiy were safe.
Moments later, she revealed that there was an “error in the control room,” and that she needed Aldama and Chmerkovskiy to return to the stage. “This is live TV, right? This is the craziness of live TV,” the host quipped. Ultimately, Monica and Val were safe as Heche and Motsepe were sent home.
Execs tell ET that they have Banks’ back. Exec producer Andrew Llinares said that she “dealt” with the on-air drama “amazingly.”
“I just want to be really clear, this was not Tyra’s fault. It was a behind-the-scenes issue,” Llinares said.