Sharon and I did what came naturally
By Gabrielle Donnelly
(Now Magazine, April 2000)

Ellen DeGeneres was persuaded to do a love scene by her actress-turned-director girlfriend Anne Heche. It helped that her partner between the sheets would be Sharon Stone.

The photograph has had all of Hollywood talking. Sharon Stone, gorgeous as ever, eyes ablaze with lust, is locked in an enthusiastic embrace with Ellen DeGeneres.

But anyone sniffing a steamier-than-usual scandal here will be disappointed. The photograph is actually a clip fromm the forthcoming TV film If These Walls Could Talk, featuring Ellen and Sharon fighting for the right to become parents. The love scene was put in at the suggestion of the film´s director, who happens to be Ellen´s real-life partner Anne Heche.
„It was Anne who talked ma into the love scene,“ says Ellen. „I´d never even done one before. The idea had always seemed weird to me, and, to be honest, I feel a bit uncomfortable seeing Anne doing them on screen. She´s always said to me in the past:“Oh, but honey, it´s just acting.“ And I´ve always said:“Oh, but honey, your mouths are touching.“
„Well, this time, the positions were reversed. Except, unlike me, Anne doesn´t have a problem with this. It was her idea to put the scene in. She just said to me: „Go for it.“ When it came to filming, it felt quite easy and comfortable after Anne and Sharon had got me liquored up!“
It certainly helped, she says, that her co-star was Sharon. „Getting naked with Sharon Stone? Let´s just say that I spent a LOT of time watching what we´d just filmed,“ she jokes.
„In fact, Sharon and I are good friends and have a very special relationship. We did three different takes and didn´t try to choreogrsph anything. It would have been awful if we´d been saying:“OK, first you put your hand here, then I kiss you there.“ We were just told that, at a certain point in the script, we were going to go for it. Anne left the room because she didn´t want to distract us and Sharon and I did what came naturally.“

Ellen says it was the first time she´d ever shed clothes on camera. „Why would I? I don´t really want to be seen naked and I don´t think anyone much wants to see me naked, either. Sharon and I made a pact that we´d use our bodies to protect each other from the camera. So, while it definitely is a love scene, you´re actually not seeing a whole lot of flesh. I think it came out looking extremely tasteful and quite beautiful, especially the shots of Sharon.“
Off screen, and three years into their relationship, Ellen and Anne have settled into a happy life together. But she admits that, along the way, they´ve faced more than their fair share of discrimination. And not all from the type of people you might expect.
„Gay people have prejudices as well as straight people,“ she says. „A lot of butch people don´t like lesbians who wear lipstick. And so-called progressive types discriminate against the traditional couple of a butch woman and a feminine  one. Many people in the gay community didn´t accept us at first. Before Anne met me, she´d been in a relationship which happened to be heterosexual, so in their eyes, she wasn´t really a lesbian. Which doesn´t make any sense at all to me, but it´s what we had to face.“

Looking back on her early days with Ellen, Anne can laugh. But she confesses that, at the time, she was often deeply hurt. „I try to be positive about my life, but I can´t say there weren´t some days that were bummers. I was accused of flaunting our relationship. Well, let me say that it´s very difficult to stay out of the papers when they´re tracking you down at home, in restaurants, in airports, everywhere you turn.“
„Plus, people said some very cruel things. My favourite one was when someone said that I had the mental depth of a pancake. When I heard that I thought either I can laugh about this or I can cry, and so I chose to celebrate the fact I´ve met the perfect love of my life.“
In fact, she insists that, by coming out of the closet, Ellen´s actually helped sexually confused teenagers. „Before Ellen spoke publicly, there was a sense of fear and dread about homosexuality. Beeing gay was a bad term. After Ellen created all that publicity, young people could say: „Well, I´m like Ellen.“ It was a way for them to define themselves as something not so bad after all. She´s had letters from kids saying: „If it wasn´t for you, I´d have committed suicide.“ By being open and honest about herself, she´s actually saved these young people´s lives.“
What makes both of them angry is that, under Californian laws, they´re not allowed to marry. „It´s ridiculous,“ fumes Ellen. „I don´t want to be treated like a second-class citizen just because my partner is the same sex as myself, but that´s what´s happening. We love each other and live together but, as partners, we have no legal rights at all. A friend of mine was dying in hospital and every time his partner visited him, he had to show his Power of Attorney papers in order to get into the room. This is a man whose partner is dying.“

She adds: „Anne and I have had to have our attorney draw up papers so that, if anything happens to one of us, the other will be allowed to be there and do the things a heterosexual couple take for granted. Because, whether anyone likes it or not, we´re a family.“ She turns to Anne. „Aren´t we, honey?“
„We certainly are,“ says Anne firmly.
(Reprinted without permission)