Death of Heath Ledger

While I was never a huge Heath Ledger fan (my wife thought he was cute) I was particularly excited about what I saw of him as the Joker in the Dark Knight trailers. It's easy to make jokes like "we're glad he finished the Dark Knight before he died" and things like that, but I really have felt quite sad about the whole thing. It's tragic, to be sure. I feel like I felt when River Phoenix died so many years ago. I didn't know him or Ledger, but there is something about the life of someone so young and talented being wasted in such a way. Why are some people able to cope with the pressures of celebrity better than others? Why are some more drawn to the drugs and the darker side of things? Maybe I'm just naive, but if I was that successful and had that kind of money I can think of better things to spend it on than drugs. I'm not judging...I'm just saying. Who knows? Maybe he didn't have to pay for the drugs due to his celeb status. No matter how you slice it and whether you like Heath or not is irrelevant. It is sad and tragic when someone so young has their life snuffed out, be it by their own hand and vices or from an outside force. Life is so fragile and tender and we are not promised tomorrow. Will Hollywood go on without Heath? Of course it will, much like it has gone on without River Phoenix. While voids like this are easily filled in Hollywood it doesn't change the fact that human life was needlessly lost. A life that had value (not because of the celebrity status) and could make a difference. A life that was created with a purpose...gone forever. It's just plain sad.

A few days later we all learned that drugs of any kind do not appear to be involved in the untimely death of a great actor. This is good news and it seems that Heath had changed a lot of things in his life since the birth of his daughter. A child will change your life. So, there seems to be different contributing factors to his death although, like I said, drugs do not appear to be among those. My comments about drugs and celebrity are still relevant regardless of their non-involvement in this case.