Ledger details change a bit
LA Observed,CA- 16 minutes ago
TMZ makes the connection to Mary-Kate Olsen, saying the masseuse summoned a friend who is Olsen's bodyguard and an EMT. He came over from nearby and helped ...

Heath Ledger found dead in Manhattan apartment
University at Buffalo The Spectrum,NY- 35 minutes ago
... of his death was confirmed to be his own apartment, refuting initial rumors that the actor was found in the apartment of socialite Mary-Kate Olsen. ...

Going at Sundance
Wall Street Journal- 1 hour ago
But many of those films -- including "The Wackness," with Mary-Kate Olsen, "Sunshine Cleaning," with Amy Adams, and "What Just Happened? ...

Complete report on Heath Ledger's death
Gay Socialites,NY- 1 hour ago
There was also some speculation that the apartment where Heath Ledger was staying belonged to Mary-Kate Olsen, but that actually isn't the case. ...

Heath Ledger: What Went Wrong?
The Elements,CA- 2 hours ago
In the meantime, here's what we know surrounding his sudden death: The NYPD confirmed, and then later retracted, that Ledger had died in Mary-Kate Olsen's ...

Heath Ledger, Actor, Is Found Dead at 28
New York Times,United States- 2 hours ago
The police first said that the apartment, at 421 Broome Street between Crosby and Lafayette, belonged to the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, one of the waiflike ...

Actor Heath Ledger found dead in a Manhattan apartment
AfterElton.com- 2 hours ago
According to The New York Times, the apartment was one he was subletting from actress Mary-Kate Olsen. (Other outlets are disputing this. ...

Heath Ledger Dead At 28
The Celebrity Truth,Australia- 3 hours ago
Reports suggested that Ledger was sub-letting the apartment from Mary-Kate Olsen, however, a representative for Olsen has confirmed that she had never owned ...

HOLLYWOOD POV: "Heath Ledger Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment ...
Gather.com,MA- 3 hours ago
According to newspaper reports the Soho apartment he was found in belongs to Mary-Kate Olsen. At this time police do not know the cause of death, ...

The three bottles of prescription pills found in Heath Ledger's apartment contained antidepressants and Ambien, a police source tells PageSix.com. The actor, who was found dead of an apparent overdose this afternoon, had spoken in the past about having trouble sleeping, but one of his friends tells PageSix.com, that the 28-year-old was also battling depression."I was hearing that he was depressed," says actor Jonathan Zarin, who met Heath through mutual friends. "I'm sure he must have been in a really bad place. I'd been hearing that for a while."When asked about the rumors currently circulating that Heath had a drug problem, Zarin responded, "Everyone in Hollywood experiments with drugs."Zarin said he'd miss his pal. "He was an inspiration to me as an actor. He gave me really good advice on acting. We'd go drinking together and we'd have a really good time."Police sources tell PageSix.com that Heath's apartment looked "like a temporary crash pad." They say the bed that he was found dead in was just a mattress on the floor with plain white sheets, and the apartment wasn't decorated.

In all the chatter this afternoon and evening about the tragedy of actor Heath Ledger’s death, the rumor has bounced around —and then been debunked —that Ledger was found dead in an apartment in Manhattan’s SoHo area that is owned by Mary-Kate Olsen. So, we want to separate fact from fiction and discuss the building where [...]

The AP Didn’t Prepare For This
Jossip,NY- 3 hours ago
He was found naked in Mary-Kate Olsen’s apartment. A commenter at Gothamist says the apartment was listed at $23000 a month. First Brad Renfro, now Heath ...

Actor Heath Ledger is found dead

44 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AFP) — Australian-born actor Heath Ledger, 28, the co-star of the Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain," was found dead in a New York residence on Tuesday, police said...Both the New York Times and TMZ quoted officials as saying pills were found near the body, but gave no further details.

According to the newspaper, the apartment was inhabited by actor Mary-Kate Olsen.



Actor Heath Ledger is found dead

44 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AFP) — Australian-born actor Heath Ledger, 28, the co-star of the Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain," was found dead in a New York residence on Tuesday, police said.

"Heath Ledger was found dead at 3:26 pm this afternoon," a police spokesperson said, saying he was found in an apartment in the posh district of Soho. "We don't know the cause of the death."

The entertainment website TMZ said Heath was discovered "face down on the floor" adding that "law enforcement sources ... believe it was not a crime."

The New York Times said Ledger was discovered by the housekeeper and a masseuse who arrived in the afternoon for an appointment.

They knocked on the door, but "when no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed. They shook him, but he did not respond," the Times said.

Both the New York Times and TMZ quoted officials as saying pills were found near the body, but gave no further details.

According to the newspaper, the apartment was inhabited by actor Mary-Kate Olsen.

Ledger, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," had separated from his former fiancee Michelle Williams in September. The pair, who met on the set of the Ang Lee-directed drama, have a two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Lee had hailed Ledger's performance as a "miracle" of acting, reminiscent of a young Marlon Brando.

Ledger lost the Oscar for best actor in 2006 to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his portrayal of author Truman Capote in "Capote," but "Brokeback Mountain" won three Academy Awards, including for best director.

The flaxen-haired heartthrob first came to prominence by acting as a homosexual athlete in little-known Australian soap opera "Snowy Bowles" in 1996. He played a gay cyclist in the teen soap, set at the Western Australian Institute of Sport that portrayed the lives of Olympic hopefuls.

The creator and writer of the series, John Rapsey, said it was clear even then that Ledger, then a 16-year-old sports champion and high school dropout, possessed an unusual talent.

"He himself had absolutely no problem playing the role. He handled all of that with great aplomb," Rapsey told AFP.

"What was noticeable about him was he was concentrated, very quiet, and you could see that he was really observant of other people."

Ledger, who has never attended acting school and who left his home state of Western Australia for Sydney as a teenager, credited his instincts with his success.

"The one thing that's got me to where I'm sitting is my instincts, you know, and I'm impatient. I didn't want to wait for years to work. I wanted to just get out there and do it," he said in an interview with an Australian television program in 2001.

At 19, Ledger left Sydney for Hollywood, where his standout talent was spotted by Mel Gibson when auditioning 500 actors for the role of his son in "The Patriot." The casting was Ledger's first big-time break and led to his leading role in "A Knight's Tale."

Gibson has described Ledger as possessing "the unknown factor" that "sort of lights up the screen".

Ledger continued his steady impact on Hollywood, with a small role in "Monster's Ball" (2001), followed by the lead in the lightweight "The Four Feathers" (2002), Australian drama "Ned Kelly" (2003) and "The Brothers Grimm" (2005).

At 26, the Australian was the youngest nominee for the best male actor category and the outside chance to take the statue away from fellow contenders Hoffman, David Strathairn, Joaquin Phoenix and Terrence Howard.

This month, Ledger had been working on his latest movie, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," directed by Terry Gilliam, which was due to be released next year. He also portrayed The Joker in a Batman movie called "Dark Knight" to be released later this year.

The Olsen twins' connection to Heath Ledger's apartment is now clear.


Here's the way it went down. A cleaning lady for Heath arrived at the apartment first, followed soon thereafter by a masseuse. They both entered the room at around the same time and discovered Heath's lifeless body.

The cleaning lady called police. The masseuse, we're told, called the bodyguard for the Olsens. She called him because they're friends and he's an EMT. The bodyguard was around the block at Ashley's and he immediately went over. By the time he arrived, the cops were already there.

We're also told it appeared Heath "had been dead for a while" and there were no visible signs of trauma. There was a pill bottle on the nightstand.

SOURCE: TMZ.com

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment at 3:26 this afternoon. Heath was 28. His housekeeper let a masseuse into the apartment for an appointment. When Heath didn’t answer a knock at the door, both women entered and found his body. They tried to wake him, then called 911. A bottle of pills was found near his body. Police say no foul play was involved. There is some speculation that the overdose was intentional.

Heath Ledger was found dead at his Manhattan residence, a police spokesman confirms to the Associated Press. He was 28. Police say the death may be drug-related. The NYPD spokesman tells AP that Ledger had a massage appointment at his Soho apartment. When the housekeeper went to alert Ledger the masseuse was there, she found him at around 3:26 p.m.

He did not respond when they shook him, and the housekeeper called 911, The New York Times reports. He was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. Authorities later said they did not suspect foul play but that pills were found near the body.

[From People]

An NYPD rep has said that the apartment Heath was renting is actually owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, and that Heath was subletting it from her. However Mary-Kate’s rep has said that the apartment isn’t hers, and she’s never lived in the building. It’s certainly not the most important detail of the story, but it is an unconfirmed point.

Heath broke up with actress Michelle Williams in September. They have a 2-year-old daughter named Matilda. Heath and Michelle were very private, and managed to keep a pretty low profile living in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. Heath had several run-ins with the Australian paparazzi, which really upset him, and reportedly contributed to his decision to move to the U.S. Because he and Michelle were notoriously media shy, no one really knew why the pair broke up. But it appears that Heath has had a history of addiction, and was really struggling in his battle against it. One of Heath’s friends has noted that things had been really tough with his sobriety over the last year, enough so that many of his friends feared he would die.

News of Heath Ledger’s death has shaken friends of the actor. “This is terrible and I’m in shock,” a close friend of Ledger’s tells Usmagazine.com. “But to tell you the truth… we saw it coming. Heath has gone though a rough road of trying to get sober,” the source tells Us.

“Things were very dark,” the source says. “His one joy was Matilda.” Matilda is his 2-year-old daughter with ex-wife Michelle Williams. They split in September. “Everything else was misery for him,” adds the source. “Unfortunately he was too late in getting help.”

[From Us Weekly]

The New York Times has a police source that says most signs point to a suicide. Police spokeswoman Barbara Chen said the medicine found near Ledger’s body appeared to be over-the-counter sleeping pills. Courtney Hazlett, who writes MSNBC’s “The Scoop, said, “In a lot of ways, this reminds me — we’ve almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson.” I hate to speculate, but given what’s been reported, it seems likely that Ledger killed himself. Though a lot of people assumed Anna Nicole Smith had killed herself, and it ended up being ruled accidental. Ledger’s autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. We’ll update you as further information comes available.

Update: It’s now being reported that there were two bottles of medication found near Ledger’s body: one an over the counter sleeping aid, and the other a prescription. Due to HIPAA laws, no information has been released about the prescription or what Ledger may have been taking it for. A commentator on Headline News (whose name I didn’t catch) said that he’d interviewed Heath Ledger several times over the years, including “recently.” He said that while Heath had always been a bit of a “social misfit,” he seemed especially out of it the last time the two spoke. He also described Heath’s behavior as nervous and jumpy. He said that he believed it’s possible that Heath accidentally overdosed. He noted that Heath had been very “honest with the press” recently in discussing his battle with insomnia, and that he’d taken Ambien and other sleep aids. The commentator pointed out that - considering one of the pills was an OTC sleep aid – it is possible that Heath accidentally overdosed. He also said that, as an actor, he would have at least expected Heath to “stage” his death, instead of being found naked with pills everywhere. This is just one person’s speculation, but he does make a valid point.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Heath Ledger sporting a beard, on the set of his new film ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ in London on Friday. Images thanks to PR Photos.

We'll get to the f--king business in a minute, but first: Who knew Colin Farrell and Mary-Kate Olsen were pals? Olsen showed up at the Lift last night in Park City for the opening-night...

Aussie actor Heath Ledger died in an apartment owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, it has been revealed. The 28 year old actor died of a suspected drug overdose. Police have not ruled out suicide.

December 23rd:


December 22nd:

It’s very sad to report that Heath Ledger died today.

Early reports suggested that the apartment Heath was found in was Mary-Kate Olsen’s, but the NYPD has since reported this is NOT the case.“It is not her apartment,” Annette Wolf, a publicist for Mary-Kate, confirmed to the NY Times. “She does not own the apartment. She has never owned the apartment. She and her sister have an apartment in New York City but they are not in this building.”Heath was found in his own apartment on Broome Street in Soho.

TMZ is now reporting that the masseuse who found Heath called the Olsen’s NYC bodyguard after she called the authorities. He’s a trained EMT and Ashley’s apartment is quite close to Heath’s. However, by the time the bodyguard arrived, the police were already there.

No other sources have confirmed this connection, but TMZ usually tries to be as accurate as possible!
I wonder where this mis-information came from. It’s amazng how quickly it spread. Thankfully, it was cleared up quickly!

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The medical examiner removed Heath's body from the building at 6:31 pm ET. The police are blocking off the street and enforcing the police line which reporters and photographers must stand behind. An X17 photographer says he saw a man he believes to be Mary-Kate Olsen's bodyguard entering the building about 45 minutes ago.

It is now being reported that Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment nude with pills surrounding the actor.

Ledger was found face down on the bedroom floor with no evidence of trauma.

THE DRUGS HAVE TO STOP!!!

Update: It is NOT Mary-Kate Olsen's apartment. Despite media reports. It is also being reported that he had been taking over-the-counter sleeping pills to help aid him in sleeping.


Watch Heath in this interview that shows him under the influence just months ago.

Heath Ledger has been found dead. His body was discovered this afternoon at around 3:30 PM by his housekeeper in his SoHo home. At the age of 28, he is survived by his two-year-old daughter with his former fiancee Michelle Williams. Apparently, the housekeeper had gone into Heath's room to alert him that his masseuse for his massage had arrived and that's when he was found. This information was released by NYPD rep, Paul Browne.

At that point, the New York Fire Dept. received a call in response to a "cardiac arrest call."

As far as it's known, the actor was found "surrounded by pills" and was by himself.

The "Brokeback Mountain" star was set to take on the role of Joker for the latest installment in the Batman movie series, "The Dark Knight."

UPDATE: The Broome Street apartment was mistakenly believed to be owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, who happened to be on the West Coast in California at the time. However, this does not appear to be true. At this point, police do not seem to believe there was foul play involved in his death and it seems to have been ruled accidental.

A police spokeswoman has revealed that the pills are over-the-counter sleeping pills. Reportedly, the actor had experienced substance abuse problems in the past, but had never been in rehab.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has released the following statement about his death:

"Heath Ledger will forever be remembered for his groundbreaking role as Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. His powerful portrayal changed hearts and minds in immeasurable ways. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Photos: WENN

ET has the latest...

ET confirms the autopsy for HEATH LEDGER, who died earlier today in New York City, will be conducted on Wednesday to find out the cause of death. The results are expected sometime tomorrow afternoon.

EMS officials tell ET that they were called to the scene at 3:26 and arrived only three minutes later. They say that Ledger was in cardiac arrest and had no heartbeat or pulse and wasn't breathing. Medical technicians performed CPR but were unable to bring the young actor back.

It was earlier reported that Heath was found at an apartment inhabited by actress MARY-KATE OLSEN, but the actress' representative tells ET: "She does not own that apartment. She has never owned an apartment in that building."

Courtney Hazlett, “The Scoop” columnist for MSNBC.com said, “In a lot of ways, this reminds me — we’ve almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson.”

Good Morning America is probably already on the phone with Owen Wilson. Fortunately, talking to the media about another young star’s death in the wake of his own attempted suicide is probably exactly what Wilson wants to do.

[Photo: scene in front of Mary-Kate Olsen’s apartment right now.]