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Hollywood's most famous same-sex couple, Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche, have split.
"Unfortunately, we have decided to end our relationship," the pair confirmed to the Daily News in a joint statement yesterday. "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."
The two funny blonds weren't divided by a third party, friends said. "The relationship just ran its course," said a source. "It wasn't working."
"It was a mutual breakup," said another friend. "They're both very, very upset."
The two, who'd hung together through a frost brought on by their declaration of love, seemed to have found their place in the sun this year.
After taking center stage in April at the Equality Rocks concert in Washington, they collaborated on an HBO film, "If These Walls Could Talk II." Heche directed DeGeneres and Sharon Stone in the story of a lesbian couple trying to have a baby. It was a tale that, according to sources, mirrored a real-life plan for Heche to deliver a baby that she and DeGeneres would raise.
Heche, 31, also set out on a three-month, cross-country bus trip filming DeGeneres, 43, as she returned to standup, culminating in an HBO cable special that aired last month.
"It was an act of love," said a friend. Heche's manager, Lauren Lloyd, said her client would press ahead with the film, now in post-production.
A source said DeGeneres was now living in the couple's Hollywood Hills home, while Heche was "staying with friends." The pair also had shared a weekend retreat in Ojai, Calif.
The split is sure to come as a shock to a legion of gay fans who looked upon the couple as role models.
More than 36 million viewers tuned into DeGeneres' sitcom "Ellen" on April 30, 1997, when she made TV history by becoming the first openly gay lead on a TV show. DeGeneres ended months of speculation just before the airing when she declared her homosexuality in a Time magazine cover story, and to Diane Sawyer.
The month before, she and Heche hit it off at the Vanity Fair Oscar party. A few weeks later, they went public with their love when they held hands and nuzzled in front of President Clinton at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
A year after DeGeneres' historic episode, ABC execs killed her series, pointing to diminishing ratings. DeGeneres wasn't offered another series. Heche, who'd starred in "Six Days, Seven Nights" with Harrison Ford, began to receive fewer scripts.
"I was naive, hugely naive," said Heche, who had romanced actors Steve Martin and Richard Burgi, in a 1998 interview. "I fell in love, and I didn't believe people would care."
Their professional troubles only made them more outspoken champions of gay rights. The pair, who wore wedding rings, declared last October that they would take their vows in Vermont if the state's Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.
"There is no one who is keeping their fingers crossed more than us," Heche told a cheering Vermont audience. "We'd love to celebrate that."
Added DeGeneres, "All right, that does it. I'm moving here."
But it wasn't to be.