Heath Ledger found dead in his apartment.
If you haven’t heard, actor Heath Ledger is dead at the age of 28; he was found in his apartment last night, face-down and naked with a bottle of sleeping pills nearby. Police are are speculating drug overdose, among other causes; final cause of death is pending investigation. Ledger is known to the gay community as one of the leads in the award-winning film Brokeback Mountain, although for some reason this makes me think of Jonathan Brandis, child star of Seaquest DSV and The Neverending Story. It seems as if there’s at least one in every generation - an actor found mysteriously dead, although with Brandis they were quite sure it was suicide. With Ledger, no doubt we’ll know soon enough.
I can’t help but think, though, that these sort of stories are always tied to celebrities - who are always caught in the news fronted by sordid headlines about drinking, drugs, partying, wild sex, and domestic abuse. Celebrities are always in the public eye, always scrutinized, and often held up as examples of how we should look, dress, think, and feel, even while demonstrating exactly why their habits make them less than ideal role models. The funny part?
All of the celebrities that people so love to hate lead the exact lifestyle that the entire gay community is accused of living.
While Ledger wasn’t exactly known for a wild lifestyle, the fact that he was a celebrity immediately makes his death a tragedy to be mourned by the general public; no one suspects anything despite the fact that there were drugs involved and he could have been abusing them, although regardless of the reason any death is still a great loss. But had he been a gay pop culture icon, sordid rumors would already be flying and too many people would say that he likely brought it on himself for his profligate ways.
Then again, that’s just speculation. I’m not going to say any more, as I’m not going to use the death of a man to wave a torch. I’ve said all I wanted, and I’m done.
heath ledger, death, ambien overdose
Listen to DR Streaming Radio
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 am
I’m kind of sad about this. I’ll confess that I’ve loved him ever since I was a teenager and saw Ten Things I Hate About You, and that I’ve seen The Patriot about eight times just because he was in it. I was really looking forward to his turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight, as I saw the extended trailer and realized it wasn’t going to suck. From what I’ve been reading, he was having a lot of trouble sleeping the past few months. Can you imagine just trying to get a good night’s sleep for once and accidentally overdosing? He dies, and Amy Winehouse’s skinny junkie ass hasn’t kicked the bucket yet?
Something tells me either she’ll be dead within a year, or she’ll just go on to live forever and join Keith Richards and the cockroaches after the nuclear apocalypse.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 am
Oh my… Poor guy. Yesterday, a friend told me and I thought it was a joke. =/
Ack. Why did you have to mention Jonathan Brandis? I liked him better than David Duchovny when I was nine ¬¬
Yeah, it’s really funny - actually, it isn’t funny at all- how mourn people we don’t know just because they were famous.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Westboro Baptist Church have already declared that they’re going to picket his funeral. If it’s in Australia, it could be most interesting watching them have their asses handed to them by Australians with no time for their rubbish.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
Oh, for the love of - pardon my language, but why the fuck are they picketing his funeral? Just because he was in Brokeback? What in all that’s unholy could they hope to gain from that? ~just…bites his tongue before he goes off on a tirade~
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
I thought it was a joke when I first saw this too.
I don’t think it’s strange to quietly mourn someone you’ve never met in some small way, if they’ve had an affect on you, whether they’re a celebrity or not. I just think it’s human empathy to feel sad when someone dies, especially when it’s completely unexpected, and you’ve been able to, on some silly one-sided level, been able to connect with them through the music they make or film they’re in because you can identify with a charcter they act or the words tey sing. Or i could be completely insane. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help feeling a little sad about this.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I have set a memorial site please visit and leave comments and pics.
http://heath.ledger08.gonetoosoon.co.uk
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I…just have trouble finding enough in me to really care about this. I’m sad that someone died, but not much beyond that.
And Jonathan Brandis was one of my biggest crushes when I was a kid.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I had the shit ripped out of me earlier for suggesting that people were possibly overreacting somewhat, by practically crying and all. As a death that doesn’t affect me personally, I can’t feel any genuine sadness for him in particular, any more than for all the other people who died yesterday and haven’t been nationally mourned at all.
I know I’m a callous unfeeling bitch, I’ve already been told.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I was in love with Jonathan Brandis to the point of stalkerish obsession. Heath Ledger took a similar place in my heart for awhile as well. But at least I got the news of his death within reasonable time. I didn’t know Brandis was dead until a month or so ago. And why would anyone want to picket his funeral?
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Me and my mom were crying over this. He has a little girl that now will never see her daddy smile at her again.
And I suppose the picket would be about Brokeback, and because he supposedly killed himself, and that supposedly gets you shipped straight of to Hell. Right. I hope the Australians kick their buts good.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm
They’re picketing his funeral? God. As if straight actors aren’t paranoid enough about playing gay characters. I’m not going to say it’s as bad as picketing the funerals of soldiers that died in Iraq, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Hearing about Ledger makes me sad, even though most of how I remember him is as eye candy in 10 Things I Hate About You. He’s not the type you see ending up dead of a drug overdose, accidental or not. More like, “Ledger was hit by a car while saving a kitten in a crowded street” or something.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Amanda: Because “anyone” is Phelps. If he believes there is a way he can possibly gain media coverage, attention, and support for his twisted worldview, he will do it.
I didn’t really know who he was, so I cannot appreciate the loss we’ve suffered, but it is sad nonetheless.