On January 22, 2008, Australian actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose at age 28. But that's just the start of the story.
When Heath Ledger died in 2008, the world was in shock. The handsome Australian actor was just 28 years old — and he was at the pinnacle of his career. To his adoring fans, he seemed to have it all. So what really happened on the day of Heath Ledger’s death?
Though Ledger was enjoying success in his professional life, his personal life was falling apart. Not only was he reportedly abusing drugs, he was also struggling with insomnia — sometimes sleeping just two hours per night. And his relationship with his beloved partner, Michelle Williams, had ended. Tragically, Ledger’s downward spiral would soon lead to his demise.
Officially, Heath Ledger’s cause of death was attributed to an accidental overdose. But his path to self-medication was complicated, dark, and misunderstood in the mainstream press.
Heath Ledger’s Early Years And Path To Stardom
TwitterHeath Ledger’s daughter was just two years old when he died.
Heath Andrew Ledger was born on April 4, 1979, in Perth, Australia, and from the start, he seemed destined to be a star. He was just 10 years old when he was cast in the lead role of Peter Pan at a local theater company. And there was nowhere to go but up.
While he was still in school, Ledger took small roles in a few Australian movies and TV shows. By age 19, he had already made the leap to Los Angeles. Starring in the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You, Ledger quickly took Hollywood by storm. And from there, his star power only grew as he snagged roles in films like The Patriot, Monster’s Ball, and A Knight’s Tale.
Columbia PicturesHeath Ledger in A Knight’s Tale (2001).
By 2005, his star burned even brighter. Ledger’s performance as Ennis Del Mar in the groundbreaking film Brokeback Mountain demonstrated his skill as a serious actor — and stunned audiences and critics alike.
“Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character,” raved The New York Times. “It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.”
Ledger would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in Brokeback Mountain. At 26, he was one of the youngest actors ever nominated. Though Ledger lost the prize, he had already gained another.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagicMichelle Williams and Heath Ledger at an after-party for Awake and Sing!
After meeting Michelle Williams on the set of the film, Ledger began a whirlwind relationship with her. The pair later found a place in Brooklyn, New York, and moved in together. They welcomed a daughter in late 2005.
With a sparkling portfolio and a committed partner, Heath Ledger seemed to be a budding superstar in the making. No one could have guessed that his days were numbered.
What Happened To Heath Ledger?
Flickr/teadrinkerHeath Ledger with his young daughter Matilda, pictured shortly before his death.
Heath Ledger’s Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain was followed by a remarkable turn in I’m Not There — a movie inspired by Bob Dylan. Even more exciting, Ledger would soon portray the Joker in The Dark Knight.
But behind the scenes, things were far from rosy. By September 2007, Ledger’s relationship with Williams had come to an end. While Williams remained at the couple’s home in Brooklyn, Ledger had moved to Manhattan — where he’d become a favorite subject of New York tabloids.
Though these tabloids often portrayed him as a young, carefree actor who was enjoying parties and hooking up with models, the truth was far darker.
In a New York Times profile — published just a few months before he died — Heath Ledger opened up about the challenges that came with his acting career. Describing his role in I’m Not There, Ledger noted, “I stressed out a little too much,” and admitted that he wasn’t “proud” of his performance.
At the time of the interview, Ledger was in London, wrapping up The Dark Knight. And it was clear that playing the Joker — someone who Ledger described as “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy” — could be draining for him.
Heath Ledger’s Joker Defined A Generation — But Dealt Him A Psychological Toll
Warner Bros PicturesHeath Ledger as the Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight.
It’s clear in any discussion about the role that Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker is widely considered to be one of the greatest depictions of the character, if not the greatest. Unfortunately, a lot of stress came along with the role, and the way Ledger immersed himself in the character was intense by any standard.
“I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary, and experimented with voices,” Ledger explained in another interview.
The work he put in certainly paid off. Ledger was given a posthumous Academy Award for his portrayal, but given that the Joker actor died before the film was even released, rumors swirled that his time spent in the mind of the Joker could have contributed to his suicide. His fellow actors and director Christopher Nolan also frequently noted Ledger’s commitment to the role.
“We’re treating this as serious drama,” Christian Bale told The Hollywood Reporter around the time of the film’s release. “You go into character and you stay in the character. I love that. I find that so ridiculous that I love it, and I take that very seriously. Heath was definitely embracing that.”
But if you look at who Ledger channeled to create his version of the Joker, it starts to make sense why it took such a toll on him. Previous Jokers, such as Jack Nicholson’s portrayal in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), had a bit more camp to them, playing off of gangster and jester archetypes. Ledger obviously took a different approach.
“Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, these kinds of punk influences were some of the things we talked about,” Nolan said. “We also talked about the character of Alex in A Clockwork Orange. He’s very anarchic and yet somehow has great charisma, both in the book and in the film… It was an interesting balance, editing the performance, because he has all kinds of interesting facets, all kinds of mannerism and things… I read them as genuinely part of the fabric of a real human being.”
Warner Bros PicturesLedger said in an interview that he was excited to give a “fresh interpretation” of the Joker for Nolan’s film.
In the midst of his intense prep work, though, Ledger’s insomnia — which he was already struggling with — seemed to get worse and worse.
“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” Ledger told The New York Times. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.” He went on to describe a night when, desperate for sleep, he took an Ambien. When it didn’t work, Ledger took another — only to wake up an hour later with his mind still racing.
Ledger’s friend and dialect coach Gerry Grennell, who lived with the actor during the final weeks of his life, witnessed the actor’s insomnia firsthand. “I would hear him wandering around the apartment and I’d get up and say, ‘Come on, man, get back to bed, you have to work tomorrow,'” Grennell remembered. “He said, ‘I can’t sleep, man.'”
These issues didn’t stop once he was done playing the Joker, though.
What Happened To Heath Ledger In His Final Days?
Jack Ludlam/Alamy Stock PhotoOne of the last photographs taken of Heath Ledger.
On the set of his next film, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Ledger was in such rough shape that his concerned cast-mates claimed that he had a case of “walking pneumonia.” He continued to struggle with sleep — and attempted to self-medicate just to get some rest.
Grennell said Ledger was also having a tough time dealing with the end of his relationship with Williams: “He missed his girl, he missed his family, he missed his little girl — he desperately wanted to see her and hold her and play with her. He was desperately unhappy, desperately sad.”
Unsurprisingly, Ledger’s family was concerned about him. Ledger’s father later revealed, “His sister was on the phone to him the night before telling him not to take the prescription medications with the sleeping tablets. He said, ‘Katie, Katie, I’m fine. I know what I’m doing.'”
On Jan. 22, 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment.
His housekeeper reportedly thought he was just sleeping late — since she heard him snoring at 12:30 p.m. But when his masseuse arrived at 2:45 p.m. for an appointment, Ledger did not respond to knocks on his bedroom door.
His housekeeper and masseuse pushed open the door — and found Ledger unconscious and naked on the floor. According to police, neither of them could revive him, so they called for help. But by that point, it was already too late.
Heath Ledger died at the age of 28.
How Did Heath Ledger Die?
Stephen Lovekin/Getty ImagesHeath Ledger’s body is carried away as fans and police officers look on.
According to the New York City medical examiner’s office, Heath Ledger’s cause of death was an accidental overdose of prescription medications. This fatal cocktail included painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, and sleeping pills.
Specifically, he died from an “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.” According to experts, this combination can cause a person’s brain and brain stem to “fall asleep” — and stop heart and lung function.
Although authorities found that Heath Ledger’s death was accidental, questions arose. It was eventually revealed that Ledger’s masseuse had called actress Mary-Kate Olsen shortly after finding his body. Olsen and Ledger were known to be close friends — but some wondered whether she had supplied him with some of the drugs that killed him.
Suspicion deepened when Olsen refused to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) during the investigation — unless she received immunity from any future prosecution. Some also found it strange that the actress had sent private security people to Ledger’s apartment rather than simply calling the police.
“Despite tabloid speculation, Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger’s home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them,” her lawyer Michael C. Miller said.
Rumors And Speculation Around Ledger’s Death Were Shut Down
Wikimedia CommonsHeath Ledger died on January 22, 2008 at the age of just 28 due to an accidental overdose.
Ultimately, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that they “don’t believe there’s a viable target” in determining who provided Ledger with painkillers. (As for the anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills, those had been prescribed legally by doctors in California and Texas.)
To this day, it remains unclear exactly how Ledger got the painkillers that contributed to his death. But for the young actor’s father, the only person to blame was Heath Ledger himself.
“It was totally his fault,” said Kim Ledger, years after his son’s death. “It was no one else’s — he reached for them. He put them in his system. You can’t blame anyone else in that situation. That’s hard to accept because I loved him so much and was so proud of him.”
Heath Ledger’s death at the young age of 28 not only cut a promising acting career short, but also completely devastated his family. His former partner, Michelle Williams, was distraught by the news as well.
“My heart is broken,” Williams said in the weeks after Ledger died. “His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is still with us. She will be brought up in the best memories of him.”
After learning about the tragic death of Heath Ledger, read about the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe. Then, learn about the strange and sudden death of James Dean.
