what? omg.

Oh Heath.. why did you have to go in a dirty manner?
He was on my "Celebs that I dont want them to die early" list.

Suzanne Pleshette and Sam the butcher, they had long lives.
Heath was young.

Stay away from the olsens and stay away from Drugs!!!!
Thinking of his baby.

Oh my goodness, the picture of him with his baby makes it 10 times worse. :(

What a waste! Ugh!

Such potential that is now lost to a drug 'hi'... so not worth it!

You'd think he would have been more responsible... Matilda won't ever know her father.

This is really sad, especially since he held so much promise. I always thought he should have won the Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain." It's much harder to play repressed, quiet roles than the it's-so-easy-to-rant-and-rave roles. And the fact that his daughter will never know her father? It's just a sad, sad day.

well Heather, it appears that you were wrong. Amy Whinehouse wasn't the next one to go, it was Heath Ledger. It's always someone you least expect huh?

this is really sad because heath had real talent, and also i feel for matilda, she wont ever know her dad. RIP heath

Honestly, as a grizzled old veteran of gossip news, stuff like this doesn't normally get to me.

But after logging onto the Internet just now and seeing Heath's death as a top story (CNN is my home page), nearly 9 hours later, my immediate reaction is still anger and shock.

What a f****ng shame.

Question for you, HMac:

Why do you think? Owen Wilson...Heath...

I understand those entangled in drugs (Amy, BritBrit, Michael Hutchens, Anna Nicole, etc etc), and am always surprised when the uber-depressed don't try to kill themselves (Halle Berry tried, Gillian Anderson didn't, Anne Hathaway and Cameron Diaz won't, Robert Downey Jr hasn't!).

So what about those who we didn't know anything 'bad' about?

Seriously...what's your take?

I wonder if Heath was a local drug addict who OD'd and left a child behind if the reaction would be the same? Or would anybody care? The end result is no different except one is famous and one isn't. I have a hard time getting too worked up either way. Life is nasty, brutish, and short and nobody is exempt.

I'm not sure I understand your question, Stephen. Why do I think those we don't expect to try suicide end up doing it and those who are likely don't?

I don't know. The cynical answer might be that those who are often known for having issues (Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears) are merely seeking attention, whereas those with real, honest-to-god problems (Owen Wilson, I guess) are looking for a real way out and are suffering privately.

In this case, I don't think Heath Ledger was any of the above. I just read that he had pneumonia and that his death was an accidental overdose. I guess we'll have to wait for the autopsy to find out what really happened.

Pneumonia?

In the nude? With sleeping pills?

I dunno...I take antibiotics and tylenol (sometimes with codeine, maybe) for pneumonia.

Either way...poor kid and poor child of said poor kid.

Yeah, I mean, who knows what the cause of death truly was? He was obviously scheduled for a massage, so that might explain the lack of clothing (or maybe he just got out of the shower, etc).

Everyone is so busy trying to out-scoop everyone else that there is so much false information being thrown about without much consideration for Heath's family (In Case You Missed It has a photo of the g.d. body bag being wheeled out of the apartment building - it doesn't get more crass than that).

But you nailed it - his poor kid.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't crucify Heath just yet on the drug thing! I'm with you, Heather - and the rest - this one's a bummer. I felt the same way when River Phoenix died - and it was just as much of a shock. Such beauty and talent and seemingly genuine sweetness - and yeah, leaving a young kid makes it that much worse. I saw him do the rounds when "Brokeback" came out and he just seemed so happy happiness with Michelle and the baby. (This ain't "Dawson's Creek," eh?) R.I.P. (this makes 3, right? Sam the Butcher, Suzanne and now Heath? Can we be done with this for a while?)

I find anyone's death at an 'untimely,' phase, sad.
(Like, if you die and you had so much to look forward too?, if you die as a result of somebody elses intent, actions, or stupidity?,
If your life was greatly alone and unfulfilled?
-all sad.)

Still, this was a 'life,' -these are all 'lives.' And they are all 'people.'

When I consider that this was a 'star,' I almost have to completely remove that aspect (star,) from the equation, or that simple fact and value, is lost.
I start thinking '...was this person worth more than somebody else?'
'...was this life more beautiful?'
'...was it more or less likely that there was foul play and/or self-inflicted (either delib. or accidental,) injury that led to death?'
-and I see them 'differently.'

I dunno.
Everybody sees Britney circling the drain, -(or not) and it warrants national attention (yet, it's still seen as entertainment.)

Amy Winehouse? She gets a top hit song about 'refusing to go to rehab,'
--is found romping through the pharmacopia like it's a daisey'd meadow, and the SAME behaviors and conditions that everybody thought was 'cool,' is looked at as stupidity and cause for ridicule, (same folks, same behaviors, but radically different comments about what she's doing and who she is, (just a different week on the calendar.)

Here's a guy, who dies, yet is hailed as a near 'god,' and written about the same. (He's a father, he's young, he's a hard worker, he's tired before his years, he had pneumonia...)
-and yes, it is sad that he's dead before thirty.

Yet all of these are evaluations by fans or detractors,
all are 'value' placed upon their lives by others,
--yet all of them could have the same diagnosis and autopsy results when the time comes.
(in fact, they all will have the same 'cause of death,'
'...heart stopped, they died.'

In fact? everybody gets that final summation.
'...heart stopped, time of death: ________'

leaving one less person that a lot of people (or nobody,) paid any attention to,
-who somebody, somewhere, is certainly going to miss.

-and we decide which ones are to be mourned and which ones are to be jeered.

It is truly sad to hear of Heaths passing.He had so much to live for.My deepest sympathies to his child and parents.

Marty: It's actually five if we want to count Brad Renfro and Suzanne Pleshette.

My bad...I meant 4 counting Brad and Suzanne....

and your point is, w.t.?

point?
sure.

I just find it endlessly interesting how, based upon what others need to see in others, --how THAT can be such a factor in determining if they are worth anything or not.
Heath Ledger? Viewed as a tragedy, (which it is.)
Amy Winehouse? -almost presented as a walking advertisement for a better roach spray.
Britney? -seen as somebody too dumb to live, who, if and when she goes 'paws up,' from her troubles, will be loathed for dying so soon, '..damm, we could have gotten more miles out of her, oh well, R.I.P.)

I just wonder why these don't get to be 'normal people,' who are going through their troubles like anyone else.
-Get to know people, Get to know celebs, stars, musicians, (whatever,) -The most 'over the top,' often are just regular folks, -and the most regular folks can be astonishingly complex, and rival the antics of anybody dogged or praised in the media.

I think I'm thinking it's basically wrong to put too great a value judgement on what any of these folks do.

They're not fodder and 'entertainment,' in and of themselves,
-they're entertainers doing their jobs.
(Sad thing is, there have been so many lines crossed, regarding what is 'too much information,' and 'that's not funny, that's tragic,' ---that it seems that any sense of decency has been lost.

I think, in some situations, the way we treat those in 'the public eye, (entertainment or not,) has gone from carnivor to cannibal behavior.
I don't find it healthy, and not just from the perspective of the (obviously,) troubled 'star,'
-but from the portrayal that human beings (any human being,) should be seen, depicted, and viewed this way, (star, or average schlubb.)