Heath Ledger: The Man Behind the Illness Kalib T. Smith Nashville State Community College Abstract Heath Ledger was a world-renowned actor, father, and had a brilliant mind that met an untimely demise early in life due to an accidental overdose. He through himself into his work, which is what set him above the rest of his peers in the acting industry. But this dedication could be linked to several mental disorders. Its hard to speculate on exactly what bothered him since there was never a proper diagnosis but from what he has told reporters and analyzing the symptoms he displayed it is believed that he could have suffered from insomnia, depression, anxiety, and bi polar disorder. Many of these conditions are linked …show more content…
But what most people did not see was the Heath Ledger behind the scenes, the Heath Ledger who suffered from insomnia, depression, anxiety, pain, and possibly undiagnosed bi polar disorder, the man who hated media scrutiny and being labeled. He had told co-workers that he suffered from insomnia and was only getting two hours of sleep a night at one point. He met an untimely demise from an accidental overdose of prescription on January 22, 2008. Ledger was born in April 1979 in Perth Australia. As a young boy growing up he found a special niche for chess, which lead him to win the Western Australia Junior Chess Championship at the age of 10. During this time period is when he took his first acting role, as the lead character is his schools reenactment of “Peter Pan”. At age 11 his parents divorced which Heath took very hard and his sister said that he pursued acting to escape the drama. At age 16 he took his early graduation exams, packed up with his best friend and moved to Sydney to try and become a world famous …show more content…
As far as current reports reveal he had never been diagnosed with any mental conditions but if you exam the symptoms of the disorders from which he was medicated for it is clear that he had problems. Depression, anxiety, and insomnia are all linked together and are if someone suffers from one they usually suffer from all of them. Also it is believed that he may have suffered from bi polar disorder, which is also linked to all of the above, and was not treated for it. One of the main symptoms of depression is throwing yourself into your work to keep from having to address the difficulties in your life. Months before the filming of the Dark Knight he reportedly locked himself in a hotel room to create his character. He played The Joker, which he described as “ He’s just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown and Chris has given me free rein. Which is fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke.” Some believe that this dark devilish role is what contributed to his inability to sleep. Heath is described as a nice, caring, affectionate person but once he got into the role as The Joker he couldn’t turn it off and it slowly drove him crazy. In an interview with the New York Times while filming Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor