Heath Ledger

[Atomic Rooster]

In their New York Times interview, published on 4 November 2007, Ledger told Sarah Lyall that his recently-completed roles in I'm Not There (2007) and The Dark Knight (2008) had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in "a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing."

Prior to his return to New York from his last film assignment, in London, in January 2008, while he was apparently suffering from some kind of respiratory illness, he reportedly complained to his co-star Christopher Plummer that he was continuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: "Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn't been feeling well on set, Plummer says, 'we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.... I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.' On top of that, 'He was saying all the time, "dammit, I can't sleep"... and he was taking all these pills [to help him].' "

In talking with Interview magazine after his death, Ledger's former fiancée Michelle Williams "also confirmed reports the actor had experienced trouble sleeping. 'For as long as I'd known him, he had bouts with insomnia,' she said. 'He had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning turning always turning.'

On 6 February 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York released its conclusions, based on an initial autopsy of 23 January 2008, and a subsequent complete toxicological analysis. The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." It also states definitively: "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications." The medications found in the toxicological analysis are commonly prescribed in the United States for insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain, and/or cold symptoms. Although the Associated Press and other media reported that "police estimate Ledger's time of death between 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m." (on 22 January 2008), the Medical Examiner's Office announced that it would not be publicly disclosing the official estimated time of death. The official announcement of the cause and manner of Ledger's death heightened concerns about the growing problems of prescription drug abuse or misuse and Combined Drug Intoxication (CDI).

He succumbed to the pressures surrounding his career and his apparent insomnia.

 

[alvino]

Oh please, Kurt Cobain is an over-rated artist. He got f*cked up and went out like a p*ssy with a 12 gauge to the face. I don't look up to sissies like that, and I don't think anyone should.

Haha

/rant.



I think Heath was poisoned with the pills by robots in his sleep.

Did I ever say he was the best artist ever? I was just using him as an example of what can happen when you can't handle the fame and popularity.

 

[PokerDegenerate]

IMO he was just getting messed up on some drugs and went a lil overboard...Don't really thing it has much to do with fame or popularity...He prolly took some pills got messed up started coming down and took some other crap not realizing that it would result in him dying, as has been the case with most other drug overdoses....Has anyone ever seen the movie GIA with angelina jolie?? It's a perfect example of Hollywood people getting messed up on drugs...It's not like a regular person doing drugs because these people have unlimited access to money and don't have to stop or pace themselves trying to prolong the experience.....

 

[alvino]

Yeah, I only used that example as a theory as to why Ledger died, but I previously stated that I don't think it's really why. Just speculation is all...

 

[Atomic Rooster]

The poor guy was just messed up is all. Extreme cases of insomnia and easy access to sleep medications will do that to ya.

 

[PokerDegenerate]

The poor guy was just messed up is all. Extreme cases of insomnia and easy access to sleep medications will do that to ya.

Not just sleep medications were found in his system when they did the autopsy...

"The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." "The medications found in the toxicological analysis are commonly prescribed in the United States for insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain, and/or cold symptoms."

He was sleepy, hyper, depressed, hurting, and sick, Yikes....[SARCASM]Poor guy shoulda consulted his CVS pharmacist before mixing medications....[/SARCASM]

 

[Teny]

i heard he locked himself in a hotel room for like a month trying to perfect being the Joker, and while he was acting, he started getting these weird dreams, started hearing voices, and started to get sleep loss so he started to take meds.

Then of course, those are just what i heard.

 

[StratosP]

Wow...freaky... :\

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

[SARCASM]Poor guy shoulda consulted his CVS pharmacist before mixing medications....[/SARCASM]

I have a medicine dictionary (give me a break, my mom is a nurse) It tells you what drugs interact with others and what not. You can get last year's copy used for cheap.

 

[Half Evil]

He succumbed to the pressures surrounding his career and his apparent insomnia.

Thats good stuff dude where did you find it?