Both He Zhun and He Chong had already died by 357, when, based on the account of her high birth, He Fani was selected to be the empress on 19 September.
When the warlord Huan Xuan (Huan Wen's son) usurped the throne from Emperor Xiaowu's son Emperor An in 403, she was still alive, and as she was forced to move from Yong'an Palace (vacated to serve as Emperor An's residence as Prince of Pinggu), her procession went past the imperial temples, and she cried bitterly at the sight of the temples.
Huan Xuan became displeased and, instead of honoring her as a princess dowager as would be expected, he created her only as the Lady of Lingling.
Subsequently, when Liu Yu started an uprising in 404 to restore Emperor An, Huan had her and Emperor An both transported west, but on the way, Huan Xuan's brother-in-law Yin Zhongwen (殷仲文) turned against him and escorted both her and Emperor An's empress Wang Shen'ai back to the capital Jiankang.
She was said to have then ordered that her regular supplies be reduced in light of the warfare that the people had just suffered.