Anne Heche Ex James Tupper Admits to ‘Troublesome Time’ Since Her Loss of life as Buddies Collect to Honor Her Life

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Anne Heche‘s family members got here collectively to recollect the late actress on Tuesday at a studying of her new memoir.

The occasion was held on the Barnes & Noble on the Grove in Los Angeles, with a few of her closest household and associates in attendance, together with her Higher Together podcast cohost Heather Duffy, Girl in Room 13 director Elisabeth Röhm, actress Justina Machado, ex James Tupper and their son, Atlas.

“I need to say that I am doing nice, but it surely’s been a really, very troublesome time. A really large transition and spending time with my boy and taking care of him, that is principally been my complete focus,” Tupper informed PEOPLE on the occasion.

“It’s totally troublesome everytime you lose a father or mother like that. Your complete world switches inside out, and I believe youngsters expertise trauma in a approach that adults do not. Adults have a context to place it in, however youngsters don’t. You need to bury it, you need to overlook about it and transfer previous it,” he added. “I occurred to have misplaced my mother, too, once I was very, very younger. So I form of perceive what he is going by means of.”

Tupper informed PEOPLE that “grief is a troublesome factor” and that “it is available in waves,” including that there have been instances when he is needed to pull his automotive over whereas driving as a result of he is been “so upset” following Heche’s demise.

“This shock that she’s gone now — somebody that you simply actually liked and actually knew very, very effectively… [It’s] unimaginable to recover from rapidly,” he mentioned.

As for the way he and Atlas are dealing with the loss, he informed PEOPLE, “Atlas has taken up tennis so he performs like two to a few hours a day, and I believe that is creating an actual good stability.” He added that Atlas “has actually good associates. So protecting this stuff rigorously in stability, that is how we’re getting by means of grief.”

Notably lacking from the occasion was Heche’s son Homer Laffoon, whom she shared with ex Coley Laffoon.

On the occasion, Heather signed copies of the memoir for followers on behalf of Heche. There have been additionally some farewell messages learn.

RELATED: First Look at Anne Heche Memoir Released After Her Death: How She Found Peace After Childhood Abuse

Simon & Schuster Name Me Anne guide cowl

Actor Alec Baldwin appeared in a tribute video throughout the night. In it, he recalled when he and Heche costarred within the 2004 Broadway revival of Twentieth Century. “Anne was in fact very daring and really adventurous,” he mentioned.

“She was courageous,” he added. “And he or she was humorous, and he or she’s so many issues. However all that apart — all of the anecdotes of working and so forth — she was type. She would attain out to me in robust instances I’ve had or great instances I’ve had, and I might hear from her intermittently however at all times, ‘How are you?’ And nothing connected. There was nothing transactional about Anne’s love, at the very least in my case.”

The guide studying comes 5 months after the 53-year-old Emmy Award-winning actress was concerned in a devastating car crash on Aug. 5.

The actress remained in a coma for practically every week earlier than she was declared legally dead within the state of California on Aug. 11. Her coronary heart continued to beat till Aug. 14 so as to guarantee her organs could possibly be donated in accordance together with her needs.

“At the moment we misplaced a brilliant mild, a sort and most joyful soul, a loving mom, and a loyal pal,” a rep for the star informed PEOPLE in a press release on the time. “Anne will likely be deeply missed however she lives on by means of her stunning sons, her iconic physique of labor, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for at all times standing in her reality, spreading her message of affection and acceptance, will proceed to have an enduring impression.”

Within the months following her demise, Heche’s older son Homer and her ex James grew to become entangled in a authorized back-and-forth. Homer has since been named general administrator of her estate.

RELATED: Anne Heche’s Son Thanks Fans for ‘Love, Care and Support’ Ahead of Posthumous Memoir Release

Anne Heche

Heche had been writing Name Me Anne, her follow-up to 2001’s Call Me Crazy, for months main as much as her demise.

The guide consists of “private anecdotes of her rise to fame: how Harrison Ford grew to become her on-set mentor, her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, her encounter with Harvey Weinstein, her historical past of childhood sexual abuse, her relationship with God, her journey to like herself,” in keeping with its synopsis.

Particulars of the memoir had been first launched in September by the Related Press, which published an excerpt forward of the guide’s scheduled launch date.

RELATED: Anne Heche Called Her Sexuality ‘Alien’ in Memoir Written Before Her Death

Earlier this month, Heche’s son Homer spoke about the book and announced the “special” Barnes & Noble event in a put up on his mom’s Instagram account.

“I’ve a duty to share together with her group what she was engaged on and the way excited she would have been to inform you herself,” he wrote, partly. “The guide is the product of mother’s additional efforts to share her story and to assist others the place she might. Name Me Anne is the outcome and I do know she was excited to share with the world.”

“So, mother, right here I’m sharing it with the group you created, could it flourish and tackle a lifetime of its personal, as you’ll have wished,” he added. “I do know mother would need to see everybody’s smiling face as she learn an excerpt and signed copies.”

Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock Anne Heche

Along with Name Me Anne, Heche had accomplished a number of initiatives earlier than her demise. The actress had a job in What Remains reverse Kellan Lutz and Cress Williams, and filmed The Idol alongside The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp. She additionally appeared in Lifetime’s movie, Girl in Room 13, which premiered in September.

Heche can also be anticipated to seem within the upcoming initiatives, Supercell, Full Journey, Frankie Meets Jack, Chasing Nightmares and Wildfire: The Legend of the Cherokee Ghost Horse.

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Call Me Anne is now out there for buy.