Don't say he deserved it

Heath Ledger was found dead last night. I found it shocking, not because he is famous, but because he was just 28 and it was a bolt from the blue. I saw the unassuming young man, who was named Heathcliff after the Wuthering Heights hero, in A Knight's Tale at the cinema in 2001. My friend and I thought this new face was a charming knight, a proper Hollywood hero in the making with his blond hair and strong build. Then S and I watched Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and were impressed. The contrast between the knight and the ranch hand was marked – he had grown up and was a damn good actor with the promise of much more to come. Rolling Stone said: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides."

I was appalled to hear a few idiots on the radio last night say Heath Ledger was stupid, that people who take drugs deserve all they get. And this is even before the autopsy! Maybe it was suicide. Maybe it was an accident. He took prescription drugs – sleeping pills, I think. God knows how not sleeping can make a person feel. It is torturous, cruel, hellish to the sleepless. Sound sleepers, some of them smug bastards, cannot possibly glimpse the depths: everything, everything is affected. There are things that cause the sleeplessness obviously, and who knows what these were in the case of Heath Ledger. He had a selection of sleep and anti-anxiety medication around him. He told one interviewer that he couldn't sleep, that his mind kept on and on. The recent split from his ex-fiancée and their child, battling to stay off heroin and hating the Hollywood publicity machine that plagued him were too much for him to manage.

How can anyone stand back and be callous enough to say he deserved it? Reportedly, he was hypercritical and gave himself a hard time. I bet the "I told you so" brigade don't have much insight into their own failings, their own faults and problems, ghosts and demons. No, it's much easier to pick on easy targets from your self-made pedestal of perfection, isn't it? They should remember as they sit in judgment: what goes around...

OK, so I didn't know Heath but I respected his work, and from what I've read and seen, he came across as a kind, caring, hardworking, ego-free, talented human being. And that is enough for me to say that I'm sad and sorry that such a person is no longer with us.

Photos: Dima Gavrysh/Associated Press