Heath Ledger... Dead.

[V1P3R]

I thought every day was the most depressing of the year but... eh. : shrugs :

I'm just shocked that's all I got, I mean he didn't seem like a bad guy or that bad of an actor but not really on the radar either. Wouldn't have expected something like this from him. Sucks.

R.I.P.

 

[ferrari_chris]

I was a bit shocked by this.

You don't hear much about Heath, so him turning up dead was surprising.

I don't understand why this happens to celebrities. But I'm not a celebrity, so that's probably why I don't understand.

The only issue I can think of that he's had in the past, was a couple of years ago he squirted some photographers with a water pistol on the red carpet. Apart from that, I don't remember hearing anything about him.

And I think his portrayal of the Joker is said to be his best performance so far.

I don't understand why this happens to celebrities.

 

[somebody]

The only issue I can think of that he's had in the past, was a couple of years ago he squirted some photographers with a water pistol on the red carpet. Apart from that, I don't remember hearing anything about him.

Actually it was the photographers squirting him with water pistols on the red carpet for Brokeback Mountain.

 

[ferrari_chris]

Actually it was the photographers squirting him with water pistols on the red carpet for Brokeback Mountain.

Did he do the same to them in retaliation then?

Or, actually, did they do it to him after he spat on a paparazzi at some stage? That is more accurate I think.

 

[livemusic]

It was just sleeping pills right?(from all what I have heard) Apparently he had real trouble sleeping lately, sounds like he overdone it.


RIP fellow Australian Heath.

Yeah, I've read in an interview he was sleeping about two hours a day only. Even taking sleeping pills he would wake up an hour later.

 

[somebody]

Did he do the same to them in retaliation then?

Or, actually, did they do it to him after he spat on a paparazzi at some stage? That is more accurate I think.

Sounds about right.

 

[McLaren]

Rock stars and actors probably party a lot harder than CEOs.

I'm not saying this was Ledger's case, but I do believe that sometimes the stress of the fans & the paparrazzi can be a bit much as well.

 

[TheCracker]

I'm not saying this was Ledger's case, but I do believe that sometimes the stress of the fans & the paparrazzi can be a bit much as well.

It's more likely the fact that his fiancee had recently walked out on him and taken their daughter with her.

 

[FoolKiller]

I wonder why CEOs keep going to work instead of ending up dead in a pool of their own vomit....

CEOs don't have months of downtime to blow $20 million they got for three months worth of work. CEOs have to show up almost every day, sometimes to the point of heart attacks, because when they make a mistake millions of dollars and thousands of jobs are on the line. I bet that if CEOs had months to try relieving their stress that some of them would put anything in their bodies too. But if you barely have time to sleep and are likely to even miss Christmas you really don't have time to party.

Like so many who have posted in this thread, my first concern was for myself - ie: how does this affect that Batman movie.

It feels good to know that I only appear to be a callous jerk because I was the first reply.

I think my concern for Heath may have been greater if I'd been a big fan (which I might be after the Batman movie), or if I'd really followed his work etc. etc.

It may just be that we are older now. Celebrity deaths were major events when I was a teen, but now I realize it is no more traumatic than the thousands of deaths that happen all over the world, only I know this face and name.

Not that every death isn't something to be mourned, but if we can ignore every other instance of suffering and death why not this one? To me this is no different than hearing about John Smith taking too many sleeping pills. It is just that John Smith wasn't involved in something that I had an interest in, which is why my first thought was Batman.

If Dark Knight is in post-production, will he still be in it as the Joker or would they refilm his parts?

I was thinking more about postponing the movie. It upsets the entire Hollywood schedule because this is one of those films that others try to avoid opening with. If they postpone it then others will jump to fill the time slot while ones opening when they do open will suddenly be looking to find a weekend with less threatening competition.

Even if it wasn't in post-production, they would probably just find a double to finish his roles. So, no, I guess one could say.

If this were 10-15 years ago (Poltergeist 3) I would say it is possible, but with the way we overreact to everything postponing the film is a definite possibility and a subject of discussion in Hollywood right now, I guarantee it. And in that same conference room is someone extremely callous saying not to postpone it because this will cause more people to go see the film, and thus make even more money.

 

[Zrow]

It's shocking and sad - I thought he was a great actor, brilliant in Brokeback Mountain. He was one of the better actors of our generation, and his best work was probably still ahead of him.

And I know it's no different than anyone dying, but still, 28's a young age to die no matter who you are.

 

[Danoff]

nvrmind.

 

[McLaren]

It's more likely the fact that his fiancee had recently walked out on him and taken their daughter with her.

I didn't know that, but I can agree on that as well.

 

[Matt R]

I don't think he purposefully offed himself. I don't know the guy or anything, but why would he kill himself? Money can't buy happiness or take pain away, but it sure frickin' helps. If I was having a bad day with Heath's money, I'd go buy a Ferrari and run it into the ground. If that didn't cheer me up I'd bang so many hot chicks that I lost count. All problems solved.

 

[superberkut]

Whoa!

Most likely he overdosed by accident. If he was trying to kill himself, he would have likely downed the entire container of sleeping pills, and yet, 'police found pills in the vicinity of the area.' He wasn't actually that depressed; he was just tired of working for so long.

It's considered suicide because many people do not associate overdosing with accidents.

 

[Zrow]

He wasn't actually that depressed; he was just tired of working for so long.

How do you know?

 

[superberkut]

How do you know?

Perhaps I am too quick to react to these things, but was there anything else that he could have been depressed about, other than his long work hours? He had a wife and children; life would just have seemed too full for him to take his life intentionally like that.

 

[Dave A]

Depression doesn't work like that, you don't always need to have something to be depressed about, jus tlife it'self can be enough. Depression is a medical condition, not a state of mind that you have control over. Basically when your brain stops producing the right chemicals you get depressed and you can lose the will to live, millionaire or tramp, it doesn't matter and the effect can be just as bad either way.

That said, I have heared different stories, one story I've read is that he wasn't sleeping. Even after taking sleeping tablets he was still waking up after 1 or 2 hours at the most, that could have led to him overdosing in frustration without realising the effects. On the other hand, a few stories have come out saying that he wen't downhill after his split and he wasn't the same after that. It's a pity because he seemed like a nice guy, I've never read anything that digs into his personal life that says or suggests he was a nasty person, he did have a drug problem though.

 

[McLaren]

I don't think he purposefully offed himself. I don't know the guy or anything, but why would he kill himself? Money can't buy happiness or take pain away, but it sure frickin' helps. If I was having a bad day with Heath's money, I'd go buy a Ferrari and run it into the ground. If that didn't cheer me up I'd bang so many hot chicks that I lost count. All problems solved.

And what happens when you get bored of doing that? Depression comes back.
As Dave said, it's not something you can control.

 

[Tornado]

If this were 10-15 years ago (Poltergeist 3) I would say it is possible, but with the way we overreact to everything postponing the film is a definite possibility and a subject of discussion in Hollywood right now, I guarantee it. And in that same conference room is someone extremely callous saying not to postpone it because this will cause more people to go see the film, and thus make even more money.

I don't doubt that they will postpone it, but even if he died halfway through filming I don't think they would have reshot his scenes with someone else.



Does anyone else think that this may be because he was a druggie more than he just overdosed, and if you put two and two together after the fact it isn't surprising that he died? Maybe I'm just being insensitive, but after seeing some of his interviews he was very obviously doing drugs that weren't sleeping pills, and I doubt the circumstances surrounding that are stress related.
I might even go further and say that the only reason any of the media cares is because The Dark Knight is right around the corner. If he wasn't in it I doubt anyone would have noticed (especially not on the same scale).

 

[Matt R]

And what happens when you get bored of doing that? Depression comes back.
As Dave said, it's not something you can control.

Money buys a bunch of stuff. I could find things to keep a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.

Everyone's different though.

 

[Year.Zero]

Too much banter to sift through, but just to be clear:

His role as The Joker kept him very stressed out and distraught. My source said that he was sleeping as much as 2 hours a night for the past few weeks, and that Ambien would only help him sleep for an hour at most. Those who knew him are not surprised it was sleeping pills that caused his end.

Edit: After reading everyones posts,

HE WAS NOT DEPRESSED. He was stressed out and couldn't sleep; men typically don't use drugs to kill themselves anyway—statistically, that's a chick thing. Kurt Cobain = gun. Marilyn Monroe = drugs.

 

[Lee]

If he wasn't depressed then how in gods name do you overdose by accident? It's simple, you read the instructions, you stick to the instructions.

 

[Touring Mars]

Most if not all heroin overdoses are accidental. And suicide by heroin overdose is almost unheard of. When people become addicted to/dependent upon a chemical, their bodies become more tolerant to that chemical to the point where they need more and more of it to attain the same effect. Unfortunately, other effects that the user normally doesn't experience start to come into play (like organ failure) after a certain dose level is taken. And when people self-medicate or become psychologically addicted to the effects of their drug of choice/comfort, you might aswell chuck the instructions in the bin. If someone happens to be addicted to sleeping pills and has built up a hefty tolerance to them, something as simple as switching brands could have a disasterous effect. Perhaps they know that 5 pills is usually safe for them and that 5 pills will do the trick - but they have bought a different brand (for convenience) that happens to be a bit stronger (say double strength, perhaps) and they didn't notice (or care), and hey presto, they've overdosed. More likely on a particularly stressful day, someone might decide to augment their 'normal' (prescription) drug use with a bit extra, and again, you've overdosed. I'd say it was very easily done...

edit: Just looking at an article about this story on the BBC News website and:

President George W Bush has postponed an event to promote an advertising campaign on preventing prescription drug abuse.

"We felt it would be better not to hold the event today given the tragedy of yesterday's passing of the beloved actor," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "We did not want anyone to think we were trying to link into that story in any way."

Isn't that precisely what they have done by postponing the event? Surely if they weren't linking the two things, the event should have gone ahead as planned??

 

[Dave A]

Money buys a bunch of stuff. I could find things to keep a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.

Everyone's different though.

Only your point is completley flawed. If you're ever unfortunate enough to suffer depression you won't care about Ferrari's, women, bathing in champaign, none of that will matter. Depression isn't logical, it's an illness caused by a chemical imblance in your brain, that is not something you can switch ff just because your in the driving seat of a Ferrari.

Anyway, as has been said it's possible the overdose was accidental and not related to depression.

 

[FoolKiller]

men typically don't use drugs to kill themselves anyway—statistically, that's a chick thing. Kurt Cobain = gun. Marilyn Monroe = drugs.

If he wasn't depressed then how in gods name do you overdose by accident? It's simple, you read the instructions, you stick to the instructions.

The Kurt Cobain case gives a response to both. A few months before his gunshot he overdosed on painkillers. It was unknown whether it was a suicide attempt or not, but he was taking prescribed painkillers while drinking champagne at a party.

So, it was possible suicide with drugs by a man, or someone not following instructions on a bottle.

Money buys a bunch of stuff. I could find things to keep a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.

Everyone's different though.

Spoken like someone who has never been depressed.

 

[superberkut]

Kurt Cobain = gun.

I'm sure that Cobain didn't kill himself, and that his lover Courtney Love did such. There was just too much evidence that pointed to that, but the police authorities played fall guys for Courtney's stupid cover-ups. The alleged suicide note was even in her handwriting, and there were too many drugs in his body found during the autopsy to start for him to have been able to shoot himself, as many people believed he did.

 

[Matt R]

Only your point is completley flawed. If you're ever unfortunate enough to suffer depression you won't care about Ferrari's, women, bathing in champaign, none of that will matter. Depression isn't logical, it's an illness caused by a chemical imblance in your brain, that is not something you can switch ff just because your in the driving seat of a Ferrari.

Anyway, as has been said it's possible the overdose was accidental and not related to depression.

I'm being more lighthearted than anything. I think if he could have handled it he would of. Not the case though. I'm leaning towards what happened as a complete accident.

Spoken like someone who has never been depressed.

I've never been depressed. I didn't lose function of a hand before age 20. I didn't go through months of therapy with a psychologist to battle depression.

Spoken like someone who I thought knew better.

 

[FoolKiller]

I've never been depressed. I didn't lose function of a hand before age 20. I didn't go through months of therapy with a psychologist to battle depression.

Spoken like someone who I thought knew better.

I'm just saying, I have seen true hardcore depression and those people never wanted to do anything. The closest I saw them come to wanting to do anything was wanting to do drugs so they could forget they are alive. Why are they liek that? Dunno, they just are and a lifetime of therapy only makes them seem to cope with being alive.

I have never felt that and you have never shown a sign of that on here.

The kind of depression you are talking about is far from the stuff that people that would eventually take their life, despite everything being great in their life, experience.

I separate the two and don't like that they get lumped together. I have experienced one and witnessed another and they are completely different.

 

[Matt R]

I'm just saying, I have seen true hardcore depression and those people never wanted to do anything. The closest I saw them come to wanting to do anything was wanting to do drugs so they could forget they are alive. Why are they liek that? Dunno, they just are and a lifetime of therapy only makes them seem to cope with being alive.

I have never felt that and you have never shown a sign of that on here.

The kind of depression you are talking about is far from the stuff that people that would eventually take their life, despite everything being great in their life, experience.

I separate the two and don't like that they get lumped together. I have experienced one and witnessed another and they are completely different.

You're right, two completely different types of depression. Sorry for jumping the gun like that.

 

[McLaren]

It's considered suicide because many people do not associate overdosing with accidents.

Even if he overdosed by accident, that's still considered suicide. The only other alternatives would be A) natural death which seems incredibly unlikely at his health at the time or B) murder, in which someone would have had to force the overdose, and police see no signs of a struggle.

He committed suicide, plain & simple (I don't mean that in a harsh way, either).

If he wasn't depressed then how in gods name do you overdose by accident? It's simple, you read the instructions, you stick to the instructions.

By pure stupidity? Thinking, "Hey. Maybe if I take more than 1 painkiller, my headache will go away faster." I've seen morons in this area attempt it, and then end up in the hospital to have their stomachs pumped.