Heath Ledger

Normally I don't have my phone out at work. Generally it is on vibrate and tucked in my purse. If the noise level is down in the office though, I can hear my phone vibrate. Today was such a day. I thought I'd check it later and then it kept vibrating. What the heck?! Someone must really need to get a hold of me.

I pulled out my phone to see a text from my friend in Cali that Heath Ledger had died. WHAT?! Is this a joke?

The news was so fresh that the internet barely had anything beyond a couple sentences announcing the truth of it.

After a few more minutes, more and more info began popping up. Word spread around our office. Speculation spread too.

Of course since those initial moments more has been found out about Heath's cause of death. And how the 2 films he had recently been involved in would be affected by his unexpected passing.

A statement finally released by Michelle Williams was absolutely heart breaking-

"Please respect our need to grieve privately. My heart is broken. I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up with the best memories of him."

A friend and I paid our respects at his apartment. So many people had been stopping and leaving flowers/tributes that they had the area blocked off on the street side to keep crowds corralled so they wouldn't get hit by driving gawkers. Some people were there just to keep the candles burning (one guy wandered from candle to candle with his lighter).

I had mixed feelings about going there - I wanted to see it, but once I was there it felt a bit intrusive. Heath wasn't a highly public person and now all of his problems were laid out on public display and he no longer had a say in it.