LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Anne Heche, whose high profile 3-1/2 year romance with comedian Ellen DeGeneres ended this weekend, was hospitalized hours later after walking into a rural central California home in a confused state, police said on Monday.
Heche, 31, was taken to University Medical Center in the central California city of Fresno on Sunday after officers determined that the star of ``Six Days, Seven Nights'' was suffering from ``medical issues,'' said a Sheriff's department spokesman in Fresno County.
Police declined to elaborate on Heche's condition, but the California news media was rife with speculation.
The Fresno Bee newspaper, reporting on its Web site, cited unnamed sources as saying that she appeared to be under the influence of a substance. Los Angeles station KABC-TV, on its Web site, quoted unnamed hospital officials as saying that Heche was in an ``altered mind state'' when she arrived for treatment.
Heche was treated and released and later boarded an Air Canada flight for Toronto, where she was working on a film with actor Denzel Washington in which she reportedly plays a hospital administrator and Washington a hostage taker.
Lt. Merrill Wright, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, said Heche's sports utility vehicle had broken down in a rural area about 40 miles (64 km) west of the agricultural hub.
The actress then walked nearly a mile before banging on the door of a residence and making strange statements to the occupants, Wright said, adding that officers responded to reports of a ``suspicious person'' after determining that there was a medical emergency.
A spokeswoman for University Medical Center said no patients had been admitted under the name of Anne Heche. Asked if the actress could be there under an another name, the spokeswoman said: ``Anyone could make that assumption. I can't answer that question.''
Spokeswomen for Heche and DeGeneres, 43, whose relationship had been an inspiration to the lesbian community, could not be reached for comment.
Heche and Ellen DeGeneres announced on Saturday that they were splitting. Friends told the New York Daily News that no third party was involved in the breakup. ``The relationship just ran its course. It wasn't working,'' the paper quoted a friend as saying.
``Unfortunately, we have decided to end our relationship,'' the couple said in a statement.
``It is an amicable parting, and we greatly value the 3-1/2 years we have spent together. We hope everyone will respect our privacy through this difficult time.''
DeGeneres was the first openly gay lead on a television show. Shortly after coming out in a Time magazine cover story, she made television history on April 30, 1997, when her character declared her homosexuality on the popular ABC comedy series, ``Ellen.''
Soon afterward DeGeneres and Heche, who had previously been romantically linked with Steve Martin and Richard Burgi, went public with their love affair.