Woman Whose Home Was Destroyed After Anne Heche's Car Crash Thanks Supporters amid 'Insane, Traumatic Time'

Mar. 15, 2025

The woman whose rental home was destroyed as a result ofAnne Heche’s recent car wreck is speaking out.

Nearly a week after the Emmy Award winner, 53,crashed her car into the Los Angeles residenceon Friday, causing it to catch fire, the house’s tenantLynne Misheleaddressed the incident in a video onInstagram.

“I’m still recovering and trying to figure out up from down but I did want to send a huge, huge thank you to everybody from all over the world, for the overwhelming amount of love and compassion and generosity and kindness that people have shown over the past week,” she said in the clip, which was posted to herCreative Organizationbusiness account on Thursday.

In a final note, Mishele panned the camera to show her two dogs, Bree and Rueban, who escaped the crash unharmed.

“They wanna say thank you so much for cheering them on,” she said, before addressing her other pet, who she said is staying with a friend. “My tortoise Marley says ‘hi’ from the valley.”

Mishele’s neighbor Lynne Bernsteinpreviously told PEOPLEthat Mishele and her pets were “extremely fortunate” to survive the accident with no injuries.

According to Bernstein, Heche’s vehicle drove “almost all the way through” the house and “almost immediately” caught fire. The Los Angeles Fire Department told PEOPLE that the accident caused “structural compromise” and “heavy fire” to the one-story home.

Bernstein added that Mishele “was in shock” before she even noticed the vehicle, as she saw him and two other neighbors inside her house trying to help everyone get out safely. “I don’t think she got what was going on. She said, ‘What happened? What happened?’ " he recalled.

Durand alsotold PEOPLEshe initially learned about the incident through Mishele.

“Lynne called me and asked me if I was sitting down, and then told me a car had crashed through the home and it was on fire,” recalled Durand, who owned the house for 24 years. “She could barely speak so it took a few minutes to really understand what was happening.”

“When I arrived, we hugged and cried a lot. In that moment, I was just so relieved and grateful that she and her animals had survived this,” Durand continued. “Nothing could have prepared me for what the house looked like.”

Lynne Mishele.Gofundme

In the wake of the crash, Durand and her husband John set up aGoFundMepage to help Mishele cover the loss of “the place she loves” and most of her belongings.

“Lynne and her family very narrowly escaped physical harm, and for that we are very, very grateful,” the Durands wrote on the campaign, noting that the Los Angeles Fire Department “immediately red-tagged” the house and Mishele lost an “entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items.”

“With firefighters' help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone,” they added.

The Durands urged supporters to donate to the campaign as well as support her business,Creative Organization, onInstagramandTikTok. So far, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $133,000.

source: people.com