The myths surrounding Heath Ledger: custody battle, exhaustion, flu–anything but poly-drug addiction.
“It was the custody battle ‘that really made Heath snap.”
So said actor Heath Ledger’s mentor, Terry Gilliam, in a Vanity Fair interview. Gilliam essentially claimed that the unraveling of a romance with Michelle Williams, resulting in a custody battle over their child, led to Ledger’s fatal overdose.
Yes, stress can lead to relapse or heavier-than-usual drug use by addicts. But any addict can overdose. It’s one of the risks associated with addictive use, especially poly-drug addiction, regardless of levels of stress.
The article also asserted that “chronic insomnia may have led to his death,” along with, according to vocal coach Gerry Grennell, who worked and lived with Ledger during the filming of “The Dark Knight,” “a combination of exhaustion, sleeping medication…and perhaps ...
