The Story of Heath Ledger
How drugs destroyed his life...
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was an Australian actor and director.
After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. Heath Ledger was an Academy Award-winning, Australian actor best known for his roles in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight.
Although Heath did not take any illegal drugs.. He had health issues
In their New York Times interview, Ledger told Sarah Lyall that his recently completed roles in I'm Not There and The Dark Knight had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. … I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in "a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing."
Heath suffered from sleep deprivation..
Prior to his return to New York from his last film assignment, in London, in January 2008, he was apparently suffering from some kind of respiratory illness. He reportedly complained to Christopher Plummer, that he was continuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: "Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn't been feeling well on set, Plummer says, 'we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.... I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.'On top of that, 'He was saying all the time, 'dammit, I can't sleep'… and he was taking all these pills to help him.'
Unfortunately, Heath Ledger died of Cardiac Arrest..
On January 22, 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper. Emergency medical technicians arrived at Ledger's apartment, but were unable to revive him. Heath Ledger was pronounced dead and his body was removed from the apartment. The autospy report concluded that, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as a result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine." They also said, "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from abuse of prescribed medications."