Friends of Heath Ledger have revealed how unhappy he was before he tragically overdosed and died aged just 28.
A new documentary, I am Heath, is set for release next month, but friends and family have now revealed some harrowing details about his last few days.
They revealed he was ‘desperately unhappy,’ before he died and struggled both physically and emotionally after the split with his partner Michelle Williams and mother to his child, Matilda.
Watch the trailer below:
His sister Kate told People magazine, she was devastatingly one of the last people to speak to the actor before his untimely death.
She revealed he had a chest infection and had warned him not to mix medications.
She told People what he’d told her:
Katie hello, Come on, of course.
The night before he passed we were joking and laughing because he was threatening to take out little sister [Ashleigh] to get her nose pierced and then he said, ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll call you at 8.30 in the morning.’ I told him ‘I love you’, and that was it.
A friend of Heath’s, singer Mia Doi Todd, told the magazine how he had thrown himself into his work – which were to be his final two roles – but being away from his two-year-old was hurting him.
She explained:
I could sense the break up with Michelle was driving him toward the edge. Not being the perfect father and the perfect partner to the mother of your child was really getting to him.
Clearly in a bad place, the actor used his friend and vocal coach, Gerry Grennell, as a confidant and told him he knew he had to stop relying on drugs.
He told the People:
He missed his girl, he missed his family. He was desperately unhappy…
He wasn’t sleeping well and he was taking sleep medications, but they weren’t working. He said ‘I’ve got to stop.’
Tragically, Heath continued taking the medications and on 22nd January 2008, he died of an accidental overdose and was found in his New York flat.
His sister believes Matilda is Heath’s greatest achievement and reminds her hugely of her late brother.
She added:
I still feel very connected to Heath. I feel connected to him through his beautiful daughter Matilda.
When Heath was around, she looked so much like him, we used to say ‘It’s Heath in pig tails’. Now everything she does, the way she rides a skateboard, reminds me of Heath.
I think the first five years after Heath passed, every time I’d see Matilda [I] would be in tears.
Now, I am really happy that I am at a stage that I can see Matilda and be happy and feel her daddy’s energy through her.
Kate hopes Matilda – who is now 11 – will be able to learn more about her dad through the documentary and will be able to connect with him that way.
She continued:
You can tell her about things, but with her being able to visually see his movement and his expressions, it’s almost like he had actually filmed the documentary himself and pieced it together for her.
The actor’s friend Matt Amato told the magazine how good Heath was as a dad, even though he was going through a lot.
He said:
He was a natural, he knew what to do with a baby right away. I said, ‘How come you are so comfortable with this?” He said, ‘Well, I look at her and try and be her and try to understand what she needs.’
I hope she remembers the way he would spin her around and call her darling and her excitement seeing him. They really did have something wonderful.
Unnervingly, another friend revealed Heath almost predicted his own death, knowing he would not live to be an old man. And this chilling prophecy acted as a catalyst to live his life in the moment, while he had it.
The friend said he’d told him:
I don’t feel like I have much time. I just don’t think I’m going to be around that long. I don’t know why. Just gotta get things done now.
Already a successful actor at a young age, Heath was also a keen director, so most of the footage in the new documentary, is filmed by the actor himself.
Such a tragic ending to an amazing actor’s life.
I am Heath is out on May 3rd.
