LESS than three months ago, Heath Ledger described his sleeplessnights and mental exhaustion as he wrestled with his role as the"psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic" Joker in the newBatman film.
One night he took a sleeping pill, Ambien, to little effect. Hetook a second, slept for an hour, but then woke, his mindracing.
"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 mindwas still going," he said, while admitting he also "stressed out alittle too much" about his role in the Bob Dylan film I'm NotThere.
Yesterday, the 28-year-old Australian film star was found dead,face-down and naked at the foot of his bed in his rented SoHoapartment in Manhattan. There were prescription drugs, includingsleeping pills, by his bed.
Only hours earlier, his Australian co-star in I'm NotThere, Cate Blanchett, was nominated for two AcademyAwards.
Despite wide speculation about suicide, nobody yet knows whatkilled Ledger, or what part drugs played. In Perth, his familyinsisted the death was accidental. It is understood they willarrange for his body to be flown home where he will be laid torest.
Ambien is marketed in Australia as Stilnox, and has been linkedwith dangerous side effects. More than 500 people responded to anational drug reactions hotline last year, reporting bizarrebehaviour after taking the drug. Two months ago, Australia'smedicines regulator ordered that packs of Stilnox carry warningsthat the drug can cause people to walk, eat, drive or have sexualintercourse in their sleep. They now also warn Stilnox can causerage reactions, confusion, agitation and hallucinations.
In Manhattan, police said the type of sedative found in Ledger'sapartment was uncertain. Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said theactor had an appointment for a massage at the apartment and hishousekeeper found him unconscious about 3.30pm when she went tonotify him of the masseur's arrival. He was unresponsive andpronounced dead shortly after. Mr Browne stressed that the cause ofdeath would not be known until determined by a medicalexaminer.
Mr Browne denied early reports that pills were scattered aboutthe floor.
The TMZ.com website quoted representatives of Ledger's family assaying police had advised them his death was entirely accidental.He was not a suicidal type, they had said. The website added thatan unnamed family member said Ledger was ill with pneumonia. Policecould not confirm this.
Ledger split last year from Michelle Williams, who played hiswife in Brokeback Mountain, for which he received an Oscarnomination for his role as a gay cowboy. The couple had a daughter,Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until their separation.
The Perth model Sophie Ward, whose supermodel sister Gemma wasromantically linked with Ledger during his trip home to spendChristmas with his family, told The West Australian thatLedger appeared troubled when the trio spent time together. "Wewent to the movies and just did normal stuff
but he was abit edgy," said Ms Ward, 22. "He couldn't really relax."
She said he was anxious and distressed about his relationshipbreakdown and separation from Williams, but she did not believeclaims he was battling drug problems.
She believed his recent problems stemmed from those relationshipissues. "He said he was going to London but was quite upset becausehe couldn't see his daughter as much as he'd like to," shesaid.
It is understood Ledger's family heard of his death from a radioreport yesterday morning. His parents, Kim and Sally, and sisterKate emerged from his mother's home in the Perth suburb ofAttadale.
Mr Ledger read a brief statement about the "very tragic,untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brotherand doting father of Matilda". He had been found "peacefullyasleep".
"Heath has touched so many people on so many different levelsduring his short life that few had the pleasure of truly knowinghim. He was a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-lovingand selfless individual who was extremely inspirational tomany.
"Please now respect our family's need to grieve and come toterms with our loss privately."
As recently as last week Ledger's career seemed to be continuingits upward trajectory: he was in London filming The Imaginariumof Doctor Parnassus, directed by Monty Python's TerryGilliam.
Blanchett said in a statement: "I'm thrilled by the [Oscar]nominations but more profoundly saddened by the loss of Heath. Ideeply respected his work and always admired his continuingdevelopment as an artist. My thoughts are with his family and closefriends."
In SoHo, hundreds of media and onlookers gathered outsideLedger's five-storey loft building. It was the kind of attentionthat infuriated Ledger in life.
A woman craned out of the window of an adjacent building tophotograph Ledger's shrouded body as it was wheeled to anambulance. Dozens more tried to capture the moment on mobile phonecameras. Across the street a boy, barely into his teens, shouted:"I got it. I got it on video!"
Only once the morbidly curious drifted into the night did thereseem to be a moment of simple compassion.
A Perth woman, Daleen Kupsch, 31, now living in lower Manhattan,said she had grown up in Morley, a couple of suburbs away fromLedger's home of Guildford. He had only recently been a popularvisitor to the Guildford Hotel.
"I am a big fan. I feel so sorry for his little girl. I just sawhim and his little girl the other day. He seemed so happy."
And he was, apparently. In an interview about I'm NotThere with WJW-TV, Ledger struck a philosophical note whenasked how having a child had changed his life: "You're forced into,kind of, respecting yourself more. You learn more about yourselfthrough your child, I guess. I think you also look at deathdifferently. It's like a catch 22: I feel good about dying nowbecause I feel like I'm alive in her, you know, but at the samehand, you don't want to die because you want to be around for therest of her life."