More Details On Heath Ledger’s Death
After jumping to painful conclusions about “Brokeback Mountain” star Heath Ledger’s untimely death, I’d wanted to step back and wait to see what the media had to say in the days following his passing.
Unfortunately, part of the job of writing about celebs is keeping current, and we have further damaging details beginning to emerge.
While the NYC coroner announced his autopsy findings this morning were inconclusive, stating we’d have to wait for toxicology reports for more detailed information about what caused Heath’s death, there are new reports stating “packets of drugs” were found in Heath’s apartment, and police are testing a $20 dollar bill which was rolled “suspiciously” and had powder residue.
More and more, this story is starting to sound like an accidental overdose, perhaps with Heath combining prescription meds, OTC meds and now, possibly illicit drugs in his system to create a deadly and toxic combination. We also learned last night, Heath was battling pneumonia at the time of his death, which may have also compromised his immune system.
Coincidentally, we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of Anna Nicole Smith death. If you recall, Anna also died of a deadly combination of prescription drugs which were mixed with over-the-counter medication she was taking to battle cold and flu symptoms.
The one striking lesson emphasized over and over in the wake of Anna’s death was how dangerous it is to mix medications without the advice of a doctor. Even Casey Calvert, the guitarist from Hawthorne Heights, ended up being ruled an accidental overdose after he too mixed a lethal combination of medicines in his vulnerable system.
Heath may have been suffering from depression, stress and anxiety (anti-anxiety meds were found in his apartment) but based on the scene when Heath was found, it is unlikely he was TRYING to take his own life.
That’s little comfort to those who are mourning him today.
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Looks like you have been right…when a celeb dies under “suspicious” circumstances, it’s rarely a simple answer.
I read a portion of an interview he did where he said that when he immersed himself in a role (in this case, The Joker), he totally was absorbed by it and as a result could not shut down and sleep. He said he could take Ambien but he’d only get an hour or so of sleep, take another to no effect. As a result he’d get only a couple hours of sleep a night.
Comment by k — January 23, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
I thought about Anna Nicole Smith’s anniversary coming up so soon when this story broke yesterday; especially sad because both left a child behind who will never know their parent.
Comment by Rappy — January 23, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
The police are now saying no drug residue was found on the 20 dollar bill…and they believe it was an accidental over dose, more than likely he took all or most of his meds at once…
Comment by meghan — January 23, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
i miss you heath!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Natasha — January 24, 2008 @ 2:56 am
I think the real shocking difference between the young celebrities mentioned is that as far as people know Heath and the young guitarist had good people around for them, people who had their well-being in mind. And so in their cases it is hard to imagine a tragedy like this happening. Whereas in Anna’s case she was surrounded by enablers and people who can only be presumed to be gold diggers, and I’m not sure anyone was out and out SHOCKED that something like that happened to her.
Comment by belicoso — January 24, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
I’m with Belicoso–Ledger does not seem to have surrounded himself with selish, enabling synchophants who clearly cared more for their own fame and fortune than with the health and well-being of the “star,” unlike ANS…
Comment by noodlemonkey — January 24, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Well, it’s true that Heath didn’t surround himself with the sort of people that ANS did. However, I think the point was that the exterior circumstances–the medicines, the compromised immune system, the insomnia–were similar in both deaths.
Comment by k — January 24, 2008 @ 8:35 pm