Actor Heath Ledger Is Found Dead

[ohairas]

I just read some of the articles and I'm thinking it was an accident too. When I had my baby, I didn't sleep litterally for 3 days. I couldn't sleep the night my water broke, then labor, then they had me up all night for feedings, ect.
The things Heath was describing were much like my symptoms, crazed with racing thoughts, ect. I would close my eyes and sleep wouldn't come. Sleep was very sketchy for the next week.
I'm sure his stress and sleeplessness were on a MUCH greater level. I can remember saying PLEASE just let me SLEEP! So I wonder if he thought taking too many OTC pills would do him no harm.
Nikki

 

[pretty faythe]

The media is leaping to spectacular conclusions regarding this poor kid considering an autopsy has yet to be done.

Its what they do best. It's not just the paparazzi that are voltures, they just have the worst wrap. Repected news media can be just as bad, they just have the paparazzi doing the dirty work for them.

 

[Undertow]

This is quite unfortunate. Yet another rising star vanished over the horizon.

 

[Feraud]

I think it's odd that when a "pill overdose" victim is found they usually say the pills were found "scattered about".
Nikki

This is how they attempt to libel w/out legal repercussion.

A story I read said the body was removed along with the contents of his medicine cabinet. This paints a different picture than the "sprawled nude body surrounded by pills" image the media is portraying.

These vultures cannot wait for the autopsy report.
I assume if they waited for the report they would be legally bound to report the facts.

 

[Edward]

This is how they attempt to libel w/out legal repercussion.

A story I read said the body was removed along with the contents of his medicine cabinet. This paints a different picture than the "sprawled nude body surrounded by pills" image the media is portraying.

These vultures cannot wait for the autopsy report.
I assume if they waited for the report they would be legally bound to report the facts.

Not sure if it's different in the US, but over this way you can't libel the dead.

 

[ohairas]

The only sleeping pills I've ever taken are the Tylenol PM ones. Do regular sleeping pills come in a bottle, or are they packaged separately in foil? That would make a big difference I would think.
Nikki

 

[Jovan]

In my experience, any tablets in foil are more potent. [huh]

 

[SamMarlowPI]

it'll be a week before we get any kind of official report...

 

[goldwyn girl]

I could not believe this when I heard last night. Such sad news. I liked him when he was in Roar in 1997 and being an Aussie I followed how is career was going from then.

 

[carebear]

They may not have been hyper-accurate, but the man made some darn entertaining historical (lite) films.

Ned Kelly
Four Feathers
Casanova
Patriot
Knight's Tale

Beyond the looks, a modern actor who actually acted.

 

[LizzieMaine]

This is horrible news -- earlier this month we ran "I'm Not There," and I was very impressed with his interpretation of a very difficult role. He was, as has been said, an actor who was more interested in acting than in being a "movie star." His passing is a real shame.

 

[Miss Brill]

Now the "NYPD" is telling the tabloid sites that they found rolled-up $20 bills with white powder on them, and a stash of drugs in the apartment. Jeez, even if he was an addict, it didn't take them long to ruin his image. If you are dead, you are trash. They'll probably start saying he was involved in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.

 

[MrBern]

well the NYPD isnt ruining him, he was ruining himself w/ drugs. Its already been documented that he'd been to rehab for heroin.

I saw one newsreport speculating on whether his dishevelled appearance was jsut an eccentricity or a symptom of deeper problems.

And now heres an article on JackNicholson's quote:
Jack Nicholson on drugs death of Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger: 'I warned him'

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Funny how sitting around speculating just like the tabloids are doing....does not really bring anyone back or shed any actual light on things.

 

[Feraud]

We are a bunch of gossips.

 

[PolkaDotMeggie]

I am keeping his family in my thoughts...


fftopic: What is so concerning for me is that I take Ambien also. When reading the warning label is dicusses the possibility of sleep walking, eatting food, driving, engaging in sex, or talking on the phone while taking it. Who the heck talks on the whole while sleeping and have I ever done that??! The whole situation makes me uneasy. However, I can understand the anxiety surrounding insomnia. It's a horrible feeling of trying to fall asleep and trying to will your body to relax. I don't know what is worse... laying awake thinking about falling asleep... or the concern that accidents like this one raises.

Anyone else suffer from insomnia and feel the same?

 

[MrBern]

latest details-MaryKateOlsen

The officials, who provided new details about Mr. Ledger’s death, emphasized that no illegal drugs were found in the apartment and that there were no obvious signs of suicide. Tests on a rolled-up $20 bill that was found in the apartment found no evidence that the bill had been used to handle drugs, they said.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/police-provide-new-details-on-ledger-death/index.html?hp

January 23, 2008, 5:15 pm
Police Give New Details on Ledger Death
By AL BAKER
Updated, 6:10 p.m. | The masseuse who discovered the body of Heath Ledger in a Manhattan apartment on Tuesday twice called a friend of his, the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, before calling 911, New York City police officials said on Wednesday. The officials, who provided new details about Mr. Ledger’s death, emphasized that no illegal drugs were found in the apartment and that there were no obvious signs of suicide. Tests on a rolled-up $20 bill that was found in the apartment found no evidence that the bill had been used to handle drugs, they said.

According to the police, around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, arrived at the apartment, at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, to do household chores. At about 1 p.m., she went into Mr. Ledger’s bedroom to change a light bulb in an adjacent bathroom; she found him on the bed face down, with the sheet pulled up to his shoulders, and heard him snoring.

A masseuse, Diana Wolozin, arrived to give Mr. Ledger a massage about 2:45 p.m. At 3 p.m., after Mr. Ledger did not emerge from his bedroom, with the door closed, the masseuse called him on his cellphone but got no answer. She entered the bedroom and saw him lying in bed. She took a massage table out of the closet and began to set it up near his bed. She then went over to him and shook him, but got no response. Using his cellphone, she used a speed-dial button to call Ms. Olsen in California to seek her guidance, knowing Ms. Olsen to be a friend of Mr. Ledger’s.

According to the authorities, Ms. Wolozin told Ms. Olsen that Mr. Ledger was unconscious. Ms. Olsen said she would call some private security people she knew in New York, and hung up. Ms. Wolozin again shook Mr. Ledger, called Ms. Olsen a second time, and said she believed the situation was grave and would call 911.

Ms. Wolozin called 911 at 3:26 p.m. to say that Mr. Ledger was not breathing. The call occurred less than 15 minutes since she had first seen him in bed and only a few moments after the first call to Ms. Olsen. The 911 operator urged Ms. Wolozin to try to revive Mr. Ledger, but Ms. Wolozin’s efforts were not successful.

Emergency medical workers arrived at 3:33 p.m., at almost exactly the same moment as a private security guard summoned by Ms. Olsen. The medical workers moved his body to the floor and then used a defibrillator and CPR, to no avail. Mr. Ledger was pronounced dead at 3:36 p.m. By that point, two other private security guards summoned by Ms. Olsen had arrived, as had police officers.

The police said that all five witnesses — Ms. Solomon, the housekeeper; Ms. Wolozin, the masseuse; and the three private security guards summoned by Ms. Olsen — were fully cooperating with the authorities.

The police conducted tests on a rolled-up $20 bill found in Mr. Ledger’s apartment, but found no evidence that the bill had been used for anything improper. No illegal narcotics or alcohol was found in the apartment. Prescription sleeping pills were found near the body, but it is not known if the medication played a role in his death.

The police said they were looking to examine any surveillance videos from the apartment building and the surrounding area but were also awaiting the results of an investigation by the New York City chief medical examiner. The office conducted an autopsy early Wednesday morning but said that the results were inconclusive and that additional testing was needed.

The death of Mr. Ledger, 28, the Australian-born actor whose breakthrough role as a gay cowboy in the 2005 movie “Brokeback Mountain” earned him a nomination for an Academy Award, has attracted international attention.

Sewell Chan contributed reporting.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

I have found myself quite upset about this. Whatever happened -- and we still don't really know -- my impression is that a lot of people are taking this one hard. It is easy to forget, amid the excesses of the celebrity culture, that there are artists and entertainers whose work really matters, that touch our lives in a meaningful way. Ledger was one of these, a gifted and serious young man whose performance in Brokeback Mountain was already attaining legendary status. What a damn shame this is.

 

[MrBern]

Ambien or Zolpidem sleepwalk

I am keeping his family in my thoughts...


fftopic: What is so concerning for me is that I take Ambien also. When reading the warning label is dicusses the possibility of sleep walking, eatting food, driving, engaging in sex, or talking on the phone while taking it. Who the heck talks on the whole while sleeping and have I ever done that??! The whole situation makes me uneasy. However, I can understand the anxiety surrounding insomnia. It's a horrible feeling of trying to fall asleep and trying to will your body to relax. I don't know what is worse... laying awake thinking about falling asleep... or the concern that accidents like this one raises.

Anyone else suffer from insomnia and feel the same?

From Wikipedia:
(Ambien is a trade name for Zolpidem)
Some users have reported unexplained sleepwalking while using zolpidem, and a few have reported driving, binge eating, sleep talking, and performing other daily tasks while sleeping. The sleepwalker can sometimes perform these tasks as normally as they might if they were awake. They can sometimes carry on complex conversations and respond appropriately to questions or statements so much so that the observer may believe the sleepwalker to be awake. This is similar to, but unlike typical sleep talking, which can usually be identified easily and is characterised by incoherent speech that often has no relevance to the situation or that is so disorganised as to be completely unintelligible. These statements bear a strong resemblance to that of schizophasia, one of many symptoms commonly seen in individuals suffering from schizophrenia. A person under the influence of this medication may seem fully aware of their environment even though they are still asleep. This can bring about concerns for the safety of the sleepwalker and others.
Driving while under the drug's influence is generally considered several orders of magnitude more dangerous than the average drunk driver, due to the diminished motor controls and delusions that may affect the user. It is unclear if the drug is responsible for the behavior, but a class-action lawsuit was filed against Sanofi-Aventis in March 2006 on behalf of those who reported symptoms.[30] Residual 'hangover' effects such as sleepiness, impaired psychomotor and cognitive after nighttime administration may persist into the next day which may impair the ability of users to drive safely, increase risks of falls and hip fractures.[31]

More recently, the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia reported on 4 March 2007 that a man who fell 30 metres to his death from a high-rise unit balcony may have been sleepwalking under the influence of Stilnox. The coverage prompted over 40 readers to contact the newspaper with their own accounts of Stilnox related automatism and the drug is now under review by the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee.[32]

 

[MrBern]

Funny how sitting around speculating just like the tabloids are doing....does not really bring anyone back or shed any actual light on things.

I'd like to think that we're all digesting the facts as they emerge on this breaking news story.