James Tupper admits to having a “difficult time” since her wife passed away

• Anne Heche’s family and friends gathered to honor the late actress.
• Tupper, and their son Atlas, attended the event at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles. “
• Throughout the evening, the actor Alec Baldwin could be seen in a tribute film.

At a reading of her new memoir on Tuesday, Anne Heche’s family and friends gathered to honor the late actress. Some of her closest family and friends, including her Better Together podcast cohost Heather Duffy, Girl in Room 13 director Elisabeth Röhm, actress Justina Machado, ex-James Tupper, and their son Atlas, attended the event at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles.

“I want to say that I’m doing great, but it’s been a very, very difficult time. A very big transition and spending time with my boy and looking after him, that’s basically been my whole focus,” Tupper told the news at the event.

“It’s very difficult whenever you lose a parent like that. Your whole world switches inside out, and I think kids experience trauma in a way that adults don’t. Adults have a context to put it in, but kids do not. You want to bury it, you want to forget about it and move past it,” he added. “I happened to have lost my mom, too, when I was very, very young. So I kind of understand what he’s going through.”

Grief, according to Tupper, “is a terrible thing” that “comes in waves,” and there have been occasions when he’s had to pull his car over while driving because he’s been “that disturbed” after Heche’s passing.

He remarked, “It’s impossible to get over this shock that she’s gone now – someone you really liked and really, really knew very, very well.

He told the news about how he and 13-year-old Atlas are handling the loss: “Atlas has taken up tennis so he plays like two to three hours a day, and I think that’s creating a very great balance.” He also said that Atlas “had excellent pals. So maintaining a careful balance between these factors is how we are coping with bereavement.”

Heche’s son Homer Laffoon, whom she had with her ex-boyfriend Coley Laffoon, was conspicuously absent from the occasion.

In Heche’s place, Duffy signed copies of the memoir for attendees. A few parting messages were also read.

Throughout the evening, the actor Alec Baldwin could be seen in a tribute film. He remembered working with Heche in the 2004 Broadway revival of Twentieth Century in it. He remarked, “Anne was of course quite brave and very adventurous.”

“She was brave,” he added. “And she was funny, and she’s so many things. But all that aside — all the anecdotes of working and so forth — she was kind. She would reach out to me in tough times I’ve had or wonderful times I’ve had, and I would hear from her intermittently but always, ‘How are you?’ And nothing attached. There was nothing transactional about Anne’s love, at least in my case.”

The 53-year-old Emmy Award-winning actress was involved in a fatal car accident on August 5, five months prior to the book reading.

The actress was pronounced legally dead in the state of California on August 11 after being in a coma for about a week. To ensure that her organs could be donated in accordance with her wishes, her heartbeat was until August 14th.

“Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend,” a rep for the star told the news in a statement at the time. “Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact.”

Heche’s older son Homer and her ex James got involved in a court dispute in the months after she passed away. Homer was afterward appointed as the estate’s general administrator.

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