It’s been 8 years since Heath Ledger passed away from an accidental drug overdose, and for the talented actor’s family, it remains important to make sure that people know the risks of mixing prescription drugs.
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That was the main topic during a recent conversation with Ledger’s parents Kim and Sally (via News.com.au). During their talk, Kim spoke of the last conversation Heath had before he died, which was a phone call with his sister Kate.
“The last conversation Kate had with him was this discussion about his medications and she warned him, ”You can’t mix drugs that you don’t know anything about. He said ‘Katie, Katie, I’ll be fine’. Well, that’s a cavalier boy’s answer. It just put his whole system to sleep I guess,” Mr Ledger said.
While the actor wasn’t addicted to the drugs he was taking, mixing drugs can be just as devastating as an addiction, which is unfortunately what happened in Ledger’s case.
“It was a one-off thing,” he said. “That’s what killed us, because he was warned by his sister the night before: ‘You shouldn’t mix what you’re taking for pneumonia with your ambien’. But most of Heath’s problems were self-induced. His hectic work schedule had begun to take its toll. There is pressure on everybody, especially young people, to perform and to keep going.”
“Heath mixed a couple of drugs together with sleeping tablets and he’s gone forever. That’s something we (himself, wife Sally and sister Kate) just have to deal with.”
That unfortunate reality is something that the family is dealing with on a daily basis, but they also want to use it to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else.
“We encourage people to start verbalising their problems with close friends or families or other relatives,” he said. “Losing a child is something that never leaves you. You can live with the pain, but it never leaves you. By speaking about Heath and what happened to him, we can send a message to Australians and hopefully we can save someone’s life.”
