The Bald Truth Exclusive: Drugs and The Joker? What Killed Heath Ledger? A Hollywood Curse?
Actor Heath Ledger
By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
With Heath Ledger’s devastated parents flying in from his native Australia to New York Friday for a pending funeral, the gifted actor’s death at 28 of a possible accidental drug overdose hits Hollywood in the gut, and resurrects the ghosts of Marylin Monroe, John Belushi, River Phoenix, Chris Farley, Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison and so many others.
“It feels like an epidemic,” acclaimed forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht tells The Bald Truth in an exclusive interview. “This is Anna Nicole revisited, her son, Daniel, probably actor Brad Renfro and now Heath Ledger.”
All likely accidental overdoses, and often involving prescription drugs, like the late Playboy centerfold and her son, Daniel, who both died from accidental overdoses, says Wecht.
Whether the drugs made them forget how much they’d taken, or they were unaware how drugs can lethally combine and died accidentally, all wound up deader than Elvis.
He says programs can’t hammer home the message loud or long enough, and it needs to keep being repeated: prescription drugs can kill you in the wrong combination, and doctors need to ask questions about what meds someone is taking, and draw the line if they learn doctor shopping is going on.
After reviewing Daniel Smith’s autopsy in the Bahamas, Wecht ruled he’d died from an accidental overdose of methadone and two anti-depressants, and the inquest into his death which resumes Monday is expected to confirm the findings.
“I call it, ‘Wecht’s Rule,” he says, anger and frustration in his voice. “If one drug is found in the system, 9 out of 10 times, it’s a suicide. Three or more drugs, and I count alcohol as one, it’s an accident.”
In Ledger’s case, Wecht raises serious questions about how stars –and America’s youth – try to cope with the stresses of life and the toll living under the media microscope can take…with drugs, and sometimes forget when they took what, or how much, a dangerous game.
“There’s no season on this, “ he says. “We can’t seem to get the message across. It’s unbelievable to me. Old time heroin addicts who are not educated at least know how much they had to inject and stuck to the one drug they knew.
“Now,” he goes on, “upper-middle class Americans, with, say insomnia, might be taking something to sleep and tell the doctor, ‘Hey, I can’t sleep.’ They get a prescription, try one and figure it’s not working, and say, ‘Well that didn’t work, I’ll try another, and another.’”
If alcohol is used to wash it all down, well, there goes the inhibition and memory out the window, he says.
Whether the high price of fame, the split from Michelle Williams in September, or coming off a string of varied and challenging roles, from playing Bob Dylan, to the evil Joker in a Batman movie, Ledger apparently struggled with anxiety, depression, insomnia, and had pills in his SoHo apartment to prove it: Valium, Xanex, Ambien, and a rolled up $20 bill that tested narcotic-free, said police.
“Just because there’s nothing (found) on the organs, doesn’t mean anything,” Wecht told me about Ledger’s inconclusive autopsy.
“An autopsy reveals very little, not surprising. Drugs like these don’t produce cellular changes at all. Nada. You can’t see anything grossly or microscopically, so you need an autopsy to rule everything in or out. That’s why they took slides at the scene,” for further toxicology tests.
But in our exclusive interview, Dr. Wecht predicts a combination of drugs —-and The Joker—will be found to have likely killed Ledger. The actor reported serious insomnia after playing the psychopathic killer in the last Batman movie which wrapped in November, raising more questions about whether staying in character so evil for so long had to take a toll.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:27 am
I’m still trying to process Mr. Ledgers death and will comment later but I wanted to express my appreciation to you Art. My brain was starting to turn to mush with some of the latest things I have read, from just trying to stay informed. Kudo’s to you.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:17 am
The “Wecht Rule” makes so much sense to me. I enjoyed reading the interview with Dr. Wecht, someone I have come to respect on the subject of overdose.
As opposed to Dr. Baden who for sensationalism purposes said that it was unlikely actor Heath Ledge could have accidentally overdosed on the prescription pills found in his New York apartment. Of course, I’ve come to the conclusion Dr. Baden will say just about anything to get his name in a paper or some face time on Television…any show will do.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:40 am
[...] The Bald Truth wrote an interesting post today on The Bald Truth Exclusive: Drugs and The Joker? What Killed Heath Ledger? A Hollywood Curse?Here’s a quick excerpt Actor Heath Ledger By Art Harris, (c) http://www.artharris.com, all rights reserved With Heath Ledger’s devastated parents flying in from his native Australia to New York Friday for a pending funeral, the gifted actor’s death at 28 of a possible accidental drug overdose hits Hollywood in the gut, and resurrects the ghosts of Marylin Monroe, John Belushi, River Phoenix, Chris Farley, Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison and so many others. “It feels like an epidemic,” acclaimed forensic path [...]
January 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
This and all others are so so sad. This is something that can certainly happen when you take too many drugs. I sometimes forget whether I’ve taken my one. In that case, I just don’t take one for fear of this very thing.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Hi Art
Another death and the media goes crazy with spectulation as to what happened.
It reminds me of the Anna Nicole saga,nobody really knows what happened yet and yet everybody has something to say. It’s to bad the media will do anything to sell stories, it’s time somebody put a stop to this madness, my gosh it sounds like his parents heard about his death from the radio, how sad is that???
What’s next is Mary-Kate going to be the next Howard???
As crazy as that sounds I’m sure it will sell alot of magazines.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
It feels like an epademic because it is
not just Hollywood, study the statistics, it is all ages and classes
Ask, when did our drugs become lethal
then ask when did the drug companies start manipulating the drugs. the dots should be easy to connect. I am talking about perscription drugs killing ppl. The ones they can not feel any more when they use to be able to.
Ppl are taking more to feel better or they forgot they took them.
The law suits against these drug companies have started (oxycotin)…my prediction is more to follow.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
on the last artice in regards to Heath
why does kerry say all stern supporters start your attack
why does she care who others support?
Is she impling we should all think like her
what is she impling we are going to attack her for supporting VA?
January 25th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
My” Heart goes out to Heath Ledger, family.
I hope that people start understanding that mixing drugs is a quick way to die” before your time, what a waste of life to die at a early age, when you just beginging to live. I pray that this maddness sto. We need our movie stars***
January 25th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Yall I live in Canada we get a health card with a health number we go to pharmacies and the health number is reported, if example you end of buying more than one ventolin (Used for asthma) a month it is reported to your pharmasist and doctor and the government says a hold to stop till you visit the doctor to manage your disease..yes it is not fool proof however it does work. I was refused medication and sent the hospital to get it under control again.That is one solution.
Each time we go to the pharmacy we are tagged in and it shows to each pharmasist how much we use and where we are in perscription, the controls have to happen.
There is one more disturbing factor which is, if someone really wants a drug it is not hard to find and do yourself in, everything is possible with enough money…and notoriety.
I hear you Dr Wecht, however I asked Art to report this on all websites about pharmacuticle drugs abuse, for some reason it is the new way to escape in Hollywood. BTW as sad as this gets there was a report on Prez Hilton the other night that when Heath came to America he hung out with some very unsavory characters and started to use cocaine and extasy very young. he hung out with a famous model, and I guess he just wanted to fit in…
January 25th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
its a sad but true story there,,,, on a positive note I am so grateful to hear that everything has not been as choatic as the passing of Anna or Daniel, such choatic hatefulness is something that can truley hurt the family members of those who have passed.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:19 am
So many similarities with many young people on these type of drugs. There does not seem to be enough education on, how not to mix certain ones together, to not take too many of a mixture, or to change when one does not work well. Was he sick also as Anna was? Very sad.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:15 am
So very sorry for the family, and especially for Matilda.
I totally agree with Dr. Wecht. However, he didn’t mention that the clinical trial reports on drugs are not always reported correctly…only the positive ones.
I refuse to take most prescribed drugs and tell the physician that I really can’t see the logic in taking a drug for ONE problem, that may have six serious side effects, and may even be fatal. I’ll just play the odds.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I can see people blaming Michelle Williams for ending the relationship with Heath the same way they blame Howard for staying with Anna. It’s always about blaming someone else, as if blaming someone makes it easier.
Poor Heath. I loved him. He was a great actor. I was much more of a fan of his than I ever was of Anna, and I’m so sad that he’s gone, but things happen in life, and blaming someone is pointless.
RIP Heath.
will remember you.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:12 am
It’s supposed to be about “Fallin Down” and playing dead…
not the real thing.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:19 am
LaVone:
Why bother going to the doctor if you object to the side effects?
It is a patient’s responsibility to keep the doctor aware of what one is already taking. It seems that not only was Heath taking medications prescribed by doctors in different parts of the world, but he was also being creative with recreational drugs.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 am
LaVone you got that right I was on a drug usually use for hypertension but in my case for somehing different and after I read the side affects I weaned myself off of them.The side effects would have been much worse than living with my condition.I figured if I had to be weaned on them I could be weaned off safely.