The Tragic Death of Actor Heath Ledger

Seeing as the news of Heath Ledger’s tragic death has pretty much dominated the headlines this week I thought it fitting that my article this week should be mostly about Heath Ledger, the circumstances that surrounded his death and Heath as an actor.

I have been a fan of Heath Ledger since I watched ‘A Knights Tale’ in which he starred alongside Rufus Sewell and Paul Bettany. Like many other women out there I marvelled at his acting and drooled over his boyish good looks. On 22 January 2008 news broke of Heath Ledger’s tragic death and I couldn’t have been more shocked…

Details of exactly what happened that night are hazy, but he was said to have been found face down on his bed unconscious by his masseuse. When emergency services arrived he was pronounced dead at the scene. Heath had previously stated in recent interviews that he had been having trouble sleeping since filming the new Batman movie in which he played The Joker and sources close to him revealed how he was desperately missing his young daughter Matilda and that his break-up with Dawson’s Creek actress Michelle Williams had also hit him particularly hard.

Regardless of how troubled the star appeared to be, we cannot be sure that this wasn’t just a tragic accident, he was apparently on several types of sleeping aids some of which were found at the scene and there are also some reports circulating that the star had pneumonia.. how much of this is true and how much is just the media searching for answers I couldn’t say for sure but either way I hope that Heath’s family and close friends get some kind of answer as to what exactly happened and that they are given chance to grieve.

One thing that I do find strange is that The Sun Newspaper is reporting today that the first person called by masseuse Diana Wolozin (before emergency services) was actress Mary Kate Olsen. They are suggesting that the couple had been having a low key relationship, but quite why calling her was more important than calling emergency services I’m not sure. Maybe these questions will be answered later down the line as events are examined more closely.

The family of Heath Ledger spoke out to media shortly after his death and gave the following statement

Heath’s family confirms the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda.
He was found peacefully asleep in his New York apartment by his housekeeper at 3:30 p.m. U.S. time.
We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their well wishes and kind thoughts at this time.
Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life but few had the pleasure of truly knowing him.
He was a down to earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and selfless individual who was extremely inspirational to many.
Please now respect our families need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately.

All I can say is that it is a tragic loss to the film industry as this young actor was only just starting to reach his full potential. RIP Heath.