15 years after the departure of Heath Ledger: the details behind the death of one of the greatest talents of recent times
Venice Film Festival, 2007. Hollywood star, Heath Ledger, comments that he is interested in making a documentary about Nick Drake, a British artist who died at the age of 26 from an overdose of antidepressants. No one knew that it was a terrible premonition.
The Australian actor had achieved absolute fame and was barely 28 years old. He represented the most important young talent on the Hollywood scene. His performance as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed Batman: The Dark Knight had aroused admiration in every corner of the planet, with him being the leading contender for the following year’s Oscar (which ultimately happened). But behind all this, Heath was fighting tirelessly against a depression that was growing more and more advanced.
The Australian actor couldn’t get over the recent separation from his wife and mother of his daughter, Michelle Williams. He consumed a series of antidepressants and sleeping pills, a prisoner of unbearable insomnia. His sister Kate Ledger, one of those who supported him when he decided to dedicate himself to acting, says that he spoke very often with his brother and did not tell him anything about it, that they spoke up to three times a day and he only knew that he was medicated. She knew, she warned him to be careful mixing things up.
On January 22, his masseuse Diana Wolozin showed up at the building where his apartment was located for a previously arranged session. Receiving no responses, and aware of the actor’s condition, she quickly contacted building security. The door of her apartment was opened by her housekeeper. Heath was without vital signs and naked on his bed. Diana tried to revive him with CPR maneuvers that had no effect. The actor’s life was already gone.
His death was quickly related to an excess of drugs, a suicide was suspected. The doctors treating his depression were suspected of some sort of malpractice. However, the terrible outcome was neither more nor less than a man who, not feeling that his condition was improving, abused prescribed drugs and mixed them with others that he obtained in another way. An overdose ended his life in the middle of a paranoid attack.
Despite the fact that some knew of his status, the news shook the world. At just 28 years old, Ledger left a huge void in his loved ones and fans around the world. Her last conversation with her sister Kaet was joyful, he promised to call her the next day and that he would leave her because she had to cook. He was filming Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginary World of Doctor Parnassus, a project that was put on hold and ended up being replaced by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell in various character situations. The 3 of them donated their salary to Matilda, Ledger’s daughter.
A few years later, in 2013, the diary the actor used while playing the character of the Joker was revealed. On the last page he had written just two words: “Bye bye.” We won’t know if he said goodbye to the character, if something inside him made us suspect this ending or it was something written in passing. What is certain is that the actor’s brand will last forever in the history of cinema.
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