Troubled?

[drewan]

I'm struggling with many of the Heath Ledger articles I've been reading since his death. Some of them write from the assumption that Ledger was "troubled, alone, and struggling with his demons."

There is no proof that Ledger intended to die, that he committed suicide. Recent articles have detailed that there were sleeping pills in his apartment, but they were not spilled out around him as described in some early press reports. There is no report of a goodbye note or any actions indicating he was intentionally checking out.

It's very possible that Ledger simply took the wrong combinations of medications and accidentally killed himself. That's pretty much what happened to Anna Nicole Smith a year ago, so why not Heath Ledger.

We don't need to increase the tragedy by depicting him as a troubled soul. He was a great and admired actor who took on some very memorable roles. I'm sad that after this summer I have no more Heath Ledger movies to look forward to.

Comments

[laurel]

It really sounds accidental given reports that he had pneumonia or at least a really bad cold, plus he took sleeping pills because he was having trouble sleeping.

It can be hard enough breathing when sick, but add sleeping pills to the mix and an accidental death is not hard to imagine. (I'm more keenly aware of the risk factors given the fact that I have sleep apnea; everyone does experience apneas during the night, they're more dangerous when one is sedated).

I've mostly stopped looking at articles because they all piss me off so much. It's possible facts have changed (or, rather, bum reports have been corrected) and he wasn't sick as I read a while back, I've not kept up.

Will wait and read final word from medical examiners and investigators.

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

I thought I heard he still had one movie due out that he just finished filming not long ago.

Ya nothing I've heard makes it sound intentional.

[txkink.livejournal.com]

Pardon me for butting in :)....Yes, he does have the new Batman movie coming out this summer where he plays the Joker..

There's one more...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

With Terry Gilliam with just a bit in the can. "The sudden death of Heath Ledger has shut down the film he was working on up until last weekend: Terry Gilliam's $30million Faustian fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I agree. Accidents happen, and when they involve drugs (even legal ones) that tend to fog one's thinking, we shouldn't be surprised, and we needn't look for deep, dark reasons. But I think there's an attraction for some folks in seeing someone like him as a Tragic Figure rather than just an unlucky and/or careless guy.

[txkink.livejournal.com]

Well said! Not everyone who dies young is tragic and demon-haunted. People want to turn him into another Marilyn or James Dean. I work with suicidal people every day and his behaviors prior to his death (if reported accurately) don't indicate he was at all suicidal - I mean he had his housekeeper and a masseuse coming over which doesn't follow the sort of planned aspects of a thought out suicide. No one has said he got any acute bad news so the idea he became very overwhelmed and killed himself appears remote. He also was very proud of his little girl so that would usually keep someone from suicide. I guess time will tell.

The meds might even be a red herring. I had two good friends who literally dropped dead ( one was 26, the other 29) from an undiagnosed congenital heart condition. So it may turn out that it was something completely unrelated to his meds.

I, too, am going to miss him for what work he might have done later in his life.

Sells more papers...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Brings in higher ratings...

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

As soon as the conflicting reports about the status of the body/room/etc started coming up, I detatched from the thing. I'll look in after the autopsy report comes out (not the inconclusive prelim one that didn't answer a damn thing), but right now every commentator is taking the report that fits their idea of who he was (druggie, suicidal, etc). It's making me unhappy like it appears to be making you.

[defenestr8or.livejournal.com]

Fox News (http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/23/gibson-mocks-ledger/) and Fred Phelps (http://www.queerty.com/westboro-baptists-to-protest-heath-ledgers-funeral-20080123/) had their requisite ugliness.

Tragic accident, certainly. And tragic that his family has to put up with this garbage.

[bukephalus.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Some people in the media are just lazy and pulling out a stock story at the time of a celebrity death is certainly easier than doing your homework or trying to develop a more complex or nuanced look at a situation with many unknowns.

A colleague of mine died under tragic circumstances some time ago and the media just printed the worst, stupid speculation of the police, in effect blaming the victim and getting the whole thing wrong. It really makes you wonder when (if ever) you can believe what you read.