OT: Heath Ledger found dead in his apartment [Merged]

[UCFJayBird]

yea i was watching access hollywood (flipping through the channels and saw they were talking about him) and his brother was on there talking about how he had a drug problem and how lately he had been going out to clubs and partying all night and doing drugs all the time and that was partially why him and his gf (the one has the kid with) broke up. She tried to make it work but his problems were too much.

And they were showing videos of him and it was actually kind of obvious that he must've been doing something, he was constantly fidgeting and twitching, but most attributed it to him not liking the media attention.

I wouldn't really be surprised if he had snorted something, and then the mix of it with whatever sleeping pills he had taken was a bad combination and it was just too much.

[karizma87]

man, everyone is a detective, and knows celebrity life so well...

[mhectorgato]

man, everyone is a detective, and knows celebrity life so well...

Pretty much like how you assert that Rashard isn't being professional or that he isn't caring enough?

Is that because you know NBA life so well?

[Gerhalt11]

Now they say he had a rolled up $20 bill next to him, could have been snorting something. I never knew he had a drug problem but apparently he did have some problems with heroin. Hate to say it but this makes it less shocking and less sad. You have a 2 year old daughter, you shouldn't be taking risks like that (if it is true).

$20 bill came back clean.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

I'm thinking it was the sleeping bills. Only question is whether or not it was accidental.

[Gerhalt11]

All the talk of Jack Nicholson in this thread, and now this:

Jack Nicholson has hinted he warned tragic Heath Ledger against taking on the role of The Joker in the new Batman film. Ledger, 28 - who was declared dead at 3:30pm at his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday - publicly declared himself exhausted and sleep deprived in November following the grueling shoot for The Dark Knight. He also revealed in an interview with the New York Times he'd resorted to taking sleeping pills - an overdose of which is believed to be the cause of his death - in a desperate bid to catch up on rest. And Nicholson, who famously portrayed the menacing Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 movie Batman, implied to the waiting crowd outside plush London restaurant The Wolesley on Tuesday night he spoke to Ledger about his role in The Dark Knight - and warned him about the pitfalls of taking on such a demanding challenge. When asked by the London crowds for his reaction to Ledger's untimely demise, a defeated Nicholson simply replied, "I told him so." Batman Begins prequel The Dark Knight is due to be released in July.

http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2008-01-24/#2

[karizma87]

-= original quote snipped =-



Pretty much like how you assert that Rashard isn't being professional or that he isn't caring enough?

Is that because you know NBA life so well?

dude it's getting old, we see how rashard plays, stop making comments that make zero sense.

[mhectorgato]

dude it's getting old, we see how rashard plays, stop making comments that make zero sense.

Well then stop giving me such wonderful material to work with

[mattyBoi]

Now first off, dont get me wrong, i am not gay and have been with my girl for going on 2 years now, so i take no offense to this guys gay comments, but to bash a guy like Heath who just passed away us utterly disgusting.

This guy BLOWS Imus out of the water with his comments and people should here this.

http://www.glaad.org/action/calls_detail.php?id=4189

[mattyBoi]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 5#22813005

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 6#22811536

[thefranchise2k5]

This is why I can't stand FOX News, the crazy thing is Rush Limbaugh (who probably this John Gibson guy would defend) was addicted to prescription drugs a few years back and now this guy is saying all this stuff about Heath and the drugs found in his apartment when we don't even have all the details yet and also he justifies bashing Heath just because he played a homosexual in a movie. John Gibson goes on my hated list with Bill O'Reily and Rush Limbaugh... oh what a surprise all are staunch conservatives.

[karizma87]

speaking of gay movies, has anyone seen KINSEY? I caught it on TV the other day, and it was a horrible movie. Now ths movie is rated high in movie sites just because a famous actor had the guts to do a sex scene with another male, however the movie was still horrendous. i havent seen brokeback, but I'm just speculating on the issue of famous actors in gay scenes, and how people think the movie is good because the actors were so "brave"...

[Max Power]

It's amazing how someone famous passes on and then all the talking heads come out. Because someone foolishly gave this clown Gibson a forum, now the Ledger family will probably be made aware that this scumbag trivializing there son's death just to take a shot at a movie about gay cowboys. It's shameful, and Fox News should fire that dirtbag. Who cares if he played a homosexual in a film, it's irrelevant to the fact that a 28 year old man died because he couldn't sleep.

Now I generally consider myself anti-political. But if I were to classify myself I would probably lean on the conservative side of things. Unfortunately, loud mouths like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O' Reilly make us look bad, when in the case of most of us, were all good, hard working people, just like most liberals.

[Big Aaron]

What's ginger and needs feeding?

Heath Ledger's cat.

[maginno]

What's ginger and needs feeding?

Heath Ledger's cat.

Expecting a chuckle?

How about this years most worthless post?

[Gerhalt11]

-= original quote snipped =-




Expecting a chuckle?

How about this years most worthless post?

I'm usually okay with "too soon" jokes as long as they're funny.

That being said, I second your nomination, maginno.

[MagicalMan]

If anyone cares :

"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a news release.

The drugs are the generic names for the OxyContin painkiller, the anti-anxiety drug Valium, Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom.

Link

Having previously worked in the mental health field, I have to say that being on 3 anti-anxiety medications: alprazolam (xanax), diazepam (valium), and temazepam (Restoril) is a bit overkill. While temazepam is a sleep aid, it is still a benzodiazepine (as are xanax and valium) and is addictive and potentially harmful if taken with multiple benzo's. Add two pain killers on top of it and that can make for a lethal combination. The man was on 5 narcotic prescriptions simultaneously which makes me think he might have been an addict.

[Gerhalt11]

If anyone cares :

"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a news release.

The drugs are the generic names for the OxyContin painkiller, the anti-anxiety drug Valium, Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom.

Link

Having previously worked in the mental health field, I have to say that being on 3 anti-anxiety medications: alprazolam (xanax), diazepam (valium), and temazepam (Restoril) is a bit overkill. While temazepam is a sleep aid, it is still a benzodiazepine (as are xanax and valium) and is addictive and potentially harmful if taken with multiple benzo's. Add two pain killers on top of it and that can make for a lethal combination. The man was on 5 narcotic prescriptions simultaneously which makes me think he might have been an addict.

I notice that the final result deemed it "accidental" overdose. Since you have the expertise, MM, do you know what methods they use to determine if an overdose is accidental or intentional? How could they possibly know?

[MagicalMan]

You can do an urinalysis and find the levels of both benzodiazepine's and opiates in the body. The hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (OxyCotin) are in the same class as heroin and opium which is why they are so addictive. I would imagine they ruled it accidental because his toxicology levels must not have been abnormally high, like you might see with a suicide/intentional OD. When you take five medications that sedate you and lower heart rate its probably easy to over do it. I don't know though, he could've been taking everything as prescribed, its just an awful lot of narcotics to be taking at once. I guess thats what makes me a little bit suspicious.