Original subtitles

- How you doing, Heath? - Heath!

Wave at us! Wave at us!

Serious directors were quite convinced

he would be the actor of his generation.

This guy is unbelievably talented

and just threw himself into exactly the right roles.

I know the public still has questions that are unanswered.

He told MTV, "I could die now and be okay."

Heath immersed himself so much into this role,

he descended into, like, madness.

This drug-addicted, self-involved monster.

Heath Ledger was a victim

of an organized cabal of celebrity killers.

He was murdered.

911 emergency.

The official narrative doesn't tell the whole story.

But you really have to look at everything.

You still have to go down that rabbit hole.

You still have to go down that path.

When a celebrity dies,

the search for answers moves online,

and the truth may be one click away.

January 22, 2008.

Shock.

Grief.

It's mayhem outside of Heath Ledger's apartment

when his lifeless body is wheeled outside.

Just moments earlier, the news of the 28-year-old actor's death

creates a cloud of sadness.

It quickly ends up being chaos

outside of his apartment in SoHo.

There's paramedics, there's paparazzi.

No one has any real answers in real time.

For me, it was a shock.

- Excuse me, get back. - Behind the barricade, please.

It was really difficult to believe.

He was at the top of his game. He was young.

So I think it came as a real shock to a lot of people.

I think one of the first questions

that came to mind is what happened?

The next day, Ledger's autopsy report is released.

It is inconclusive, pending toxicology results.

I'm Sara Hammel, and I was a reporter for People magazine

when Heath Ledger died.

When a celebrity dies, we don't know what caused it,

so we're going to have to battle rumor after rumor, conjecture.

In the frenzy that follows Ledger's death,

the media and online investigators

struggle to get the story straight.

Was it suicide?

An overdose?

Or something more nefarious?

Fans find that his death just doesn't make sense.

Ledger was at the top of his game.

Heath Ledger was a serious talent.

Chris Norris is a journalist who has covered

Heath Ledger extensively.

He was an extraordinary actor who probably had he lived

would have been one of the better ones in this generation.

He just seemed to put everything out there,

have it all available to you, unguarded, undefended,

and I think that is captivating and magnetic to people,

especially when they're trying to create something.

To have somebody so present,

so emotionally available to them.

Ledger's career starts in the early '90s

when he becomes a heartthrob in Australia

after appearing in various teen dramas.

But he wanted more.

At 18, he moved to Hollywood,

and in 1999, at 19, he got his big break.

A starring role in teen rom-com "Ten Things I Hate About You."

That was his breakout role.

He really just charmed people

and he charmed the industry and charmed the world.

In the 2000s,

Ledger proves that he's more than just a pretty face.

He picks more complex characters to play,

like Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain."

"Brokeback Mountain" was important for Heath Ledger,

you know, in more ways than one.

Besides being a really important and well-regarded movie,

he also met Michelle Williams on that film.

- Heath, right here. - Heath. Heath. Heath.

She starred in it as well, and they fell in love

and eventually they had a little baby girl together.

The greatest gift, I think, was finding each other.

And now we have a family and a beautiful life.

After the critical and personal success of "Brokeback Mountain,"

Ledger lands the role of a lifetime,

playing the Joker in "The Dark Knight."

Going from "Brokeback Mountain" to the Joker,

he had really chameleonic... Able to transform himself,

to almost to be unrecognizable,

but in a way that there was a real character

there in the roles that he was playing.

It wasn't all just a stunt.

But his most important role is being a dad.

Ledger and his young daughter, Matilda,

are often spotted all over their Brooklyn neighborhood.

And he would be seen going out shopping,

going to Gourmet Garage and getting his family some food.

Walking back, kind of looking sort of a boho chic

or kind of grungy.

Pushing a stroller, just being a dad.

But near the end of 2007,

Ledger's personal life begins to fall apart.

My name's Jake Brennan,

I'm the host and creator of the podcast

"Disgrace Land," and also the podcast "Badlands,"

where we covered Heath Ledger back in 2021.

Coming out of 2007 for Heath Ledger, I mean,

he goes from this sort of idyllic celebrity life

with Michelle Williams and their new baby, Matilda,

to splitting up.

Two days before his death, Ledger arrives back in Manhattan

as a newly single man on a break from shooting his latest film,

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

This is the last known photo of the Aussie actor on set

before returning home to New York,

where he would die shortly after.

He's living on his own at this point in New York as a bachelor.

That might sound, you know,

like it's a lot of fun for a young guy,

but for him, it was particularly depressing.

And he's got a lot of other issues.

He's got anxiety, he's got back pain, he's got insomnia.

He's dealing with all of this,

and there's really this dark reality

that settles in around him.

Fans and online investigators alike begin to wonder

if Ledger's very public split may have led to his downfall.

While online investigators wait for the toxicology report

and the official cause of death,

they begin to piece together the last days of Ledger's life,

looking for factors that could have contributed to his death.

My name is Deanna Thompson.

I spend my time looking on the Internet

at crimes that have happened and turning over evidence

to the authorities to get justice for victims.

And she's doing just that.

Thanks to her online sleuthing,

she helped track down notorious killer Luka Magnotta in 2012,

and her work is featured in the documentary

"Don't F with Cats."

I wanted to learn more about

where he was at the time he passed away,

and I wanted to know more about that time in his life.

By all accounts, he's in a dark place.

Ledger and his live-in partner, Michelle Williams,

call it quits in October of 2007.

Three months before his death.

My name is Justin Ling.

I am a freelance investigative journalist.

Ledger and Williams did have, clearly, relationship troubles

about a year after the birth of their daughter.

She kicked him out of their Brooklyn home.

The official reason given is

because of scheduling differences.

But Reddit users begin to wonder if Ledger's fast lifestyle

is the real explanation for the split.

More publications online talk about the partying

and the drug use as a reason for the breakup

than people talk about it being a scheduling issue.

If you want a source for that, it's every online article.

If you just do a quick search,

it's gonna be the first thing that comes up

is that they broke up because of his drug use.

Michelle Williams still adored Heath.

He was the father of her child, but she also had a role

of being the protector of their child together.

And it was important to her to keep that child safe

in a way, from what reports say

was increasing drug use by Heath Ledger.

At the time of his death, Ledger's dealing with a lot.

Heartbreak, a grueling schedule, physical and emotional pain,

all while being watched under a microscope.

As he became a superstar, naturally,

the tabloids became obsessed with Ledger.

This was particularly at a time

when the tabloids were running amuck,

and they really honed in on his hard-partying,

drug-use lifestyle.

While theories swirl online about his cause of death,

cyber sleuths hone in on a piece of evidence recovered

from Ledger's apartment on the day his body is discovered.

A rolled-up bill.

TMZ reported that they verified with police sources

that the police found, like, a $20 bill

that was, like, rolled up in a suspicious way.

Heath spent the latter part of 2006 and '07

partying with people in New York City.

Was he this drug-addicted,

drug-abusing, self-involved monster?

January 22, 2008.

The world is stunned when one of Hollywood's brightest stars

suddenly passes away.

Heath Ledger's life is cut short

just as his career is skyrocketing.

- How you doing, Heath? - Wave at us! Wave at us!

Immediately after Ledger's death,

online investigators mobilize

looking for answers.

Jennifer Bucholtz is an experienced detective

and has investigated dozens of crime scenes.

I do think it's important to still examine

some of the details surrounding his death

to ensure that it was properly investigated

and that we know the truth,

and that if there's more to be uncovered,

we're doing right by the victim, in this case, Heath.

As part of their sleuthing, they uncover evidence

of Ledger's hard-partying lifestyle.

In October 2007, after his split from Michelle Williams,

Ledger is now on his own and rents an apartment

in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City.

When he moved out from his home in Brooklyn,

he was probably a little adrift socially

and wanted to clear some space in his life

and maybe find some way to enjoy himself

as a semi-single man who still had responsibilities

to his daughter.

And went out, he would go out at night.

Heath spent the latter part of 2006 and '07

partying with people in New York City.

Rumors of excessive partying follow Ledger around

during his last few months of 2007.

According to a source in a People magazine article,

two nights before he died,

the actor is spotted at the Beatrice Inn

wearing a ski mask.

There's all these rumors that he's living

this wild bachelor lifestyle.

There's even this rumor that he's out at a nightclub,

hanging out, wearing a ski mask,

which is kind of crazy to think about.

While there is no photo proof of the ski mask incident,

police find evidence in Ledger's apartment

after his death that has the online community

pointing to the theory he died of an illegal drug overdose.

Police find this rolled-up bill on the site after he dies.

And it really kicks up speculation

that he was perhaps abusing drugs.

If one thinks of a rolled-up bill,

they're thinking of coke, right?

That piece of evidence stokes the theory

that Ledger died of an overdose of street drugs.

After Heath Ledger dies, there's this questioning,

you know, how into drugs was he?

Was he this major celebrity drug addict?

He wasn't seen as one,

but then these rumors of this video of him

doing cocaine at this party in Hollywood start to bubble up.

And this video, actually, of him at the Chateau Marmont

ends up hitting the Internet.

In the video, Heath is talking about

how he just had a baby two months ago.

Her name is Matilda and it's such an old-school theme.

And then he goes on to say,

"Yeah, I definitely shouldn't be here right now."

But what it did do was provide some insight

into, like, his state of mind at that time.

You know, you watch this footage,

and it's, you know, it's sensational

and it's celebrity and it's behaving badly,

but it's also at the heart of it, it's really sad.

And you see a guy who knows he's in a place

where he's not supposed to be.

He knows things are going in a direction

that they're not supposed to go.

The footage is as juicy as it gets

when it comes to leaked celebrity misbehavior,

and it quickly changes the narrative around

Heath Ledger's death.

There were two stories that seemed to be developing

at the same time.

Was he this saintly, humble father of a young girl

who was dedicated to his work?

Or was he this drug-addicted,

drug-abusing, self-involved monster

who kind of brought this on himself

through negligence and extreme behavior?

There is no evidence to back up this theory.

Yet it still lives and thrives online.

The competing narratives were allowed to sort of duel

in public, online, on TV,

and in the press for the period of time between his death

and when the toxicology reports came back.

Then on February 6th, just two weeks after Ledger's death,

the New York medical examiner releases the toxicology report.

The cause of death is acute intoxication

by the combined effects of six different medications.

Sleeping pills, painkillers, and anti-anxiety medication.

In other words,

Ledger dies of an overdose of prescription drugs.

No street drugs are found in his system,

and the rolled-up bill comes back clean.

Dr. Praveen Kambam,

who specializes in addiction medicine, breaks down the meds.

In Heath Ledger's case,

he had a combination of opiate medications,

which are pain medications, benzodiazepine medications,

which are sedative hypnotic medications,

and other sedative medications

like antihistamines in his system.

In general, this type of combination of medications

is extremely dangerous,

particularly the combination of opiates,

the pain medicines, and the benzodiazepines,

which are sedatives.

All but two were found to be prescribed from his doctors,

with the exception of OxyContin and hydrocodone.

Those two drugs were never accounted for.

No one knows how he got them.

Online investigators shift their attention

to questions surrounding the prescription drugs

in Ledger's system and where he got them.

So as I was researching that aspect online,

I came across chat rooms like on Reddit,

where some of his fans were speculating

that he may have illegally obtained those drugs.

When the masseuse finds Heath Ledger unresponsive,

things get a little strange.

There was discussion going on during that time

of needing to remove possibly incriminating evidence.

In January 2008, news of Heath Ledger's death

sends shock waves around the world.

Two weeks after Ledger is found dead,

the New York medical examiner confirms

Ledger died from a prescription drug overdose.

Online detectives start from the beginning.

They look at the timeline before and after Ledger's death.

It's always important to collect as much information

as you can on the hours before someone's death,

because those may hold the critical clues to the case,

to the investigation.

Sydney Morning Herald reported on the police timeline

that was released on the final moments of Heath's life.

The events leading up to Ledger's lifeless body

being discovered have message boards

lighting up with fans and sleuths alike,

wondering if Ledger could have been saved.

On the day of Heath's death,

his housekeeper reportedly showed up to his residence

to do her weekly cleaning.

So she's cleaning the house, and at 12:30 p.m.,

she goes into Heath's room and sees him sleeping,

and he's face down and she hears him snoring.

Reddit users point to this moment at 12:30

in the afternoon as proof Ledger was still alive.

Around 2:45 that afternoon,

Diana Wolozin, the masseuse

that Heath had scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. appointment,

showed up to the residence.

So she knocks on the door, and Heath is not answering.

So she opens the door and goes in and she sees

Heath laying in bed, he's naked, and she's like, "Okay."

So she starts trying to wake him up

and she touches him to kind of wiggle him awake.

When the masseuse finds Heath Ledger unresponsive

in his bed, things get a little strange.

Ledger is discovered unconscious at 3:11 local time,

but according to the police timeline,

Wolozin and doesn't call 911 until 3:37 p.m.,

26 minutes later.

Upon finding Ledger's body,

the massage therapist picked up the phone

and called, of all people, Mary-Kate Olsen.

The name Mary-Kate Olsen came out of the blue.

That was completely unexpected by anybody.

No one has ever linked them in any way.

It really put speculation into overdrive.

This is the first time Ledger and Olsen's name

have been uttered in the same sentence.

Heath Ledger died, and all these rumors are going around

that he died in Mary-Kate's apartment.

Him and Mary-Kate had been hooking up for

I think like three months.

And this bit of information has Internet sleuths

poring through message boards for clues.

Why would she call Mary-Kate, and not 911?

Remember, Ledger was breathing at 12:30 p.m.,

and according to the Emergency Medical Service Dispatch report,

while his hands are cool,

his torso is still warm when paramedics finally arrive.

Which could mean Ledger wasn't dead for long.

I'm Dr. Daria Long.

I'm a board-certified emergency medicine physician.

If somebody had called 911 immediately,

EMS would probably likely have immediately given him

Naloxone or Narcan to try to reverse any opioid effect.

Would it have been too late is something for speculation.

We'll never know.

Instead of paramedics, Mary-Kate Olsen sends her team

over to investigate Ledger's situation.

When she learned that he was unconscious,

she sent over a private security guard to his apartment.

The theory online in chat boards

is that Mary-Kate sent her bodyguards over

to get the pill bottles.

Did the bodyguards go and get the pill bottles?

There's no evidence to support this theory,

but on message boards, users run with it.

Yet the circumstances around Olsen's involvement

that day in SoHo remain a mystery.

So here we are 14 years later,

still with some of those same questions

that have never been answered.

Regardless of how Ledger gets the painkillers,

he combines them with several other prescription drugs

that ultimately lead to his death.

Having this combination of medications

can be particularly dangerous

because it is not only combining classes

or families of medications that may have overlapping effects,

but even within the same family of medications,

there's multiple medications being prescribed,

and those also have similar effects.

So you've got two different things going on here.

Why opioids are so dangerous,

why they lead to death in many cases

is because they cause this sedative effect,

and it slows our respiratory system

so people literally stop breathing.

Once sleuths discover

the amount of drugs in Ledger's system,

another theory begins to germinate on the Web.

The idea that Ledger took his own life.

The narrative that came out of the autopsy

was that Heath Ledger had mixed all of these drugs

without knowing the danger of putting them all together.

But nevertheless, a ton of his fans refused to accept

that this was an accidental overdose.

There's speculation that Heath committed suicide,

like he took a lethal combination of medication

on purpose.

To kind of just be like, you know, "I'm done with this."

The suicidal Heath Ledger theory,

he was so bereft and grief stricken

about not being able to see his daughter, Matilda,

that it crushed him so deeply that he was so alone

and overworked that he simply couldn't take it

and made a decision to end his life.

He really loved Michelle.

He was devastated at the loss of this relationship.

And I think even more so,

the loss of the closeness he had with his daughter.

That interview he did with MTV really stands out to me

where he says that, you know, if he died, he'd be okay

because he knows he's going to live on through his daughter.

Some fans online point out the fact

that Ledger's breakup with Williams in 2007

happens during a particularly painful time of year,

just before the holidays.

New York around the holidays

is a beautiful place around Christmas time.

And I can tell you myself, being a father,

I can't imagine anything more lonely than being alone

without your children, without your wife,

especially your kids around Christmas.

So while his acting career was flourishing,

his personal life wasn't going so well.

There's a string of troubled relationships.

He reportedly had insomnia, anxiety,

and a whole bunch of related health problems.

And he speaks freely about his chronic insomnia.

Heath Ledger is on record even telling The New York Times

that he couldn't sleep more than two hours per night.

He could not calm his mind and get a good night's rest.

I found an article from People magazine

where friend and sometimes housemate

Gerry Grennell mentioned that

Heath would often pace the floors at night.

And Gerry would say, "Man, you've got to work tomorrow.

You've got to get some sleep."

And Heath would be like, "I know, I just... I can't sleep."

It is well-documented in the scientific literature

that insomnia is a risk factor for suicide.

Sleep is a critical function

not only for your general health,

but specifically for your mental health.

When people are not sleeping,

this can cause all kinds of adverse impacts on their body.

It can shorten their life span. It can affect their heart.

It can affect clearing toxic metabolites out of your brain.

It can put you at risk for suicide,

mental health disorders, et cetera, you name it.

Working on little to no sleep,

Ledger still forged ahead,

working long hours and booking role after role.

A lot of people think, you know,

being an actor is you show up, you walk in,

they set up a camera,

and you start talking and everything's great.

But behind the scenes, it's a grueling schedule.

Being an A-list actor who has to deliver

is actually, at the end of the day,

responsible for this film selling tickets.

It's a lot, and I think the pressure for civilians

like us is unimaginable.

The theory is that Heath immersed himself

so much into this role

that it altered his mental health

and that he descended into, like, madness.

Got into his soul and just drove him to an early death.

On February 8, 2008, the New York Coroner's Office

rules Heath Ledger's death

an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

But as the Internet tries to understand why that happened,

one very popular theory

pins the movie star's death on his acting style.

Method acting.

In method acting,

a performer essentially transforms themself

physically and emotionally into their character

for long periods of time during filming.

Method acting is about really rooting the character

in the text itself, in the story,

and doing tons of research,

staying in the character when you're on set or around,

in the wardrobe, and really immersing yourself

in the specifics of this fictional character.

Heath Ledger would really research a character.

Go deeply into it, read tons about it,

act as that character, not as himself.

Everybody thinks of him as the Joker from "The Dark Knight,"

which is one of the best portrayals

you can point to in modern cinema.

And Ledger's work ethic

is unmatched in his preparation for the role.

The theory is that Heath immersed himself

so much into this role that it altered his mental health

and that he descended into, like, madness.

People said, "Oh, yeah, he became the Joker

and he killed himself."

Ledger's vision for the Crown Prince of Crime

is based on the original comic book rendition

of a frayed sociopath

hell-bent on destruction for destruction's sake.

Heath wanted to make this Joker his own,

and he wanted to really stand out

as a different kind of Joker.

He didn't want to, like, be Jack Nicholson.

He wanted to be Heath Ledger, the Joker.

So he really put himself into a position

where he could become maniacal and, like, dangerous and scary.

To do this, Ledger reportedly locks himself in a hotel room

for a full month before the movie starts filming.

The metamorphosis into the Joker begins.

So he started isolating himself

and kind of, like, intentionally driving himself mad.

And while he was doing this isolation and sleep deprivation,

he created a journal to document this process.

I found excerpts of Heath's Joker journal online.

This diary kind of cataloged Heath's descent into madness.

And in going through the diary, you know,

there's players cards that are, like, cut up kind of weird

and old "Batman" comics with the Joker.

What happened in the Joker's life

to get to where he's at now, right?

Every detail is given thoughtful attention

as Ledger dives deeper into the villain's persona.

Now, he wanted his laugh to be unique,

animalistic and maniacal.

And hyenas were his inspiration for this laugh.

And so he had a page, like,

with just all these hyenas kind of cut out.

Like, on the last page he wrote, "Bye-bye."

Like, very, like, maniacal.

Some fans online believe

Ledger's journal shows a man slowly going insane.

There's a segment of people that think

that he may have really taken on that role to a new level

and found himself in a really dark space.

"Batman's" one of these franchises that breeds

these very hardcore fans

that would actually believe that that would be possible,

that someone could immerse themselves in this character

so fully that they can take on their characteristics

and have it end in something as dark and real as suicide.

Then, during filming, the Joker's twisted psyche festers

in Ledger's mind for "The Dark Knight's"

127-day shooting schedule.

The results on screen are legendary.

Heath would improvise things.

At one point, he had some kind of prosthetic on his tongue

that was coming loose,

and that's where that kind of snake-like licking of the lips

kind of came in, and he used that.

He ended up taking that in

and making that part of the performance.

Christopher Nolan thought

"Heath Ledger knows this role more than I do

because he's immersed himself

so much into this character."

Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is so convincing

that it earns him a posthumous Academy Award in February 2009.

Fans continue to wonder if Batman's nemesis

could have played a role in the actor's death.

Performing this black, evil,

and impenetrably horrible character

in film got into his soul and drove him to an early death

by the sheer toxicity of this horrifying character

that he played so convincingly onscreen.

Heath Ledger, Chris Penn,

Natasha Richardson, David Carradine.

They were all murdered.

By a secret, shadowy cabal.

When Heath Ledger dies on January 22, 2008,

legions of his fans mourn his death online.

The official cause of Ledger's death is an accidental overdose.

But some factions on the Internet

look for other reasons.

Some are pretty far out.

Like this theory pushed by Hollywood stars themselves.

In order to dig into this Hollywood star whacker theory,

I want to go back in time a bit to really understand

the origins of this thing.

My name is Becky Altringer, and I'm a private investigator.

I've been a private investigator for 25 years.

I did a lot of domestic cases, murder,

and then a lot of work in the entertainment industry.

17 months after Ledger's death, Altringer's phone rings.

Evi Quaid called me and she was so hysterical on the phone,

I couldn't understand,

you know, half of what she was talking about.

So I tried to get her to be calm,

and she said that I needed to go to Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills

right away.

And when I get there, I ask for Janet Cross.

I jumped in the car,

me and my partner Cheryl, and we went to the Avalon

and I asked for Janet Cross, and here walks this woman.

So she took us to the room.

It turns out Janet Cross is not her real name.

Her real name is Evi Quaid,

and she makes a shocking allegation.

Heath Ledger, Chris Penn,

Natasha Richardson, David Carradine.

They were all murdered.

She believed that the insurance companies for the celebrities

and the mob were killing them off

so that they could get their insurance money.

And Evi is married to a celebrity, Randy Quaid.

And she was terrified that they were going to do

a murder-suicide with her and Randy.

That's what it was all about.

Randy Quaid has been a fixture in Hollywood for years,

starring in a number of big-budget films

from "Independence Day"

to the "National Lampoon Vacation" movies.

So you probably recognize Randy Quaid.

For a time, he was a pretty big deal,

increasingly one of the most famous celebrities in Hollywood.

And the reason he and his wife know about this plot

is because of his connection

to the recently deceased Heath Ledger,

with whom he acted

in Ledger's breakout hit "Brokeback Mountain."

Evi and Randy Quaid were married,

and they were somewhat of a Hollywood power couple,

that is until not long after Heath Ledger's death,

where things kind of went sideways.

Evi tells Altringer that she and Randy

don't feel safe at the hotel and need somewhere else to stay.

She goes, "I want to go to your house."

They come to my house.

Randy was a very nice man, and we talked a lot.

Randy Quaid really liked Heath.

He was a good man.

He said he was actually a great actor.

Evi asked me to do backgrounds

on a lot of different people who work in the industry.

They were producers, directors.

Over the next few days,

Altringer looks into Evi's claims.

But then Evi changes her story

on who's really out to get the couple.

All of a sudden, she says, "These are star whackers.

That's what they are."

And I said, "What is star whackers?"

And she said, "It's those people who are out there

trying to murder us.

Someone else is going to die, Becky, you watch."

And they have a theory about how Heath Ledger died.

Heath Ledger was a victim

of an organized cabal of celebrity killers

called the Hollywood Star Whackers.

While the Quaids are spreading the word about star whackers,

they have their own legal problems.

So Randy Quaid and his wife are seeking asylum in Canada

because they're being brought up

on felony charges of trespassing.

Star whackers is because

Hollywood is murdering its movie stars for ad sales.

Quaid is adamant his star whacker theory is the truth.

We believe there are to be

a malignant tumor of star whackers in Hollywood.

The Quaids are denied asylum in Canada

and in 2015 returned to the U.S.

But they continue to push their theory

about the Hollywood star whackers in various forms.

Managed to find a copy of "Star Whackers,"

the movie that Randy Quaid produced and starred in,

directed by his wife.

It's pretty weird.

- ...and chirping pies. - And he did... Oh, God damn it.

I just watched the trailer for the film "Star Whackers."

And it's very artsy.

It's very... It feels like it has a very artistic feel to it.

It feels very interpretive, I guess.

I have no idea what "Star Whackers" is about.

Along with the Quaids, there's a social media influencer

who seems to back the star whackers theory.

I have no problem believing the idea of what Randy Quaid

and his wife are alleging is actually 100% true.

This is going on.

People are being murdered.

But beyond Internet chatter, no proof online or elsewhere

seems to exist that suggests that

Heath Ledger was murdered by such a cabal.

For those who have met the Quaids,

the real motivation behind the theory

and using Heath Ledger's name remains unclear.

So let's be real. The Hollywood star whackers theory

comes from the mind of two people,

Randy Quaid and Evi Quaid.

But there's just zero proof of the idea

that any of the people they claim were taken out

by the star whackers were actually even murdered,

let alone by a secret, shadowy cabal

supposedly collecting insurance money

on some blanket umbrella policy

that no one can actually produce.

It's so outrageous that I just don't want to give it my time.

Like, it's absurd.

I think it's just a way to be a little bit more self-important.

When he was at my house, I went outside and I said,

"Heath Ledger was not killed by the star whackers."

And he said, "I know."

"Randy, there are no star whackers."

"I know, but what can I do?"

That's what he said.

When Heath Ledger's body is discovered

in his New York City apartment and the cause of death

is ruled an accidental overdose, fans fire up their devices

and start weeding through speculation

and theories online.

Rumors are gonna say the worst about them.

So without ignoring evidence to the contrary,

it's really important to set the record straight

because he has a young daughter, right?

Like, she's going to grow up with all this stuff

on the Internet about her father.

And when it comes to Ledger, they change by the minute.

Was it illegal street drugs? Suicide?

Did the Joker make him do it?

Or was it the star whackers?

There were definitely aspects

of this Hollywood star whacker thing

that go straight into outer space.

But lots of what Quaid says is frankly true.

There is a Hollywood star system

whereby media executives and the tabloids and managers

and a lot of people in the industry chew up

and spit out young talent.

Heath Ledger lost any semblance of a private life,

and many of the celebrities

who've been targeted by this star system

have ultimately died in very tragic circumstances.

And Ledger was exactly that,

a target for some members of the press.

Remember the juicy coke video from the Chateau Marmont?

It turns out it's not what it seemed.

These members of the paparazzi set him up.

They basically entrap him to come up to their hotel room

with him.

And they end up, one guy ends up

surreptitiously going out onto the balcony

and filming from the outside window

Heath at this coke party.

But Ledger didn't die from street drugs.

It's a deadly mix of prescription meds

that ended up taking his life.

And Ledger's family is working to protect his legacy

and educate the public about the dangers of mixing pills.

The thing about Heath Ledger's death

is that there was a conspiracy at play.

Unfortunately, it was a conspiracy to get

Americans hooked on highly addictive

and incredibly dangerous opioids.

Heath Ledger is one of thousands of people across North America

who have lost their lives in the midst

of an epidemic of overdoses and drug poisonings.

You can be in a situation where you're hurting physically,

you're hurting emotionally, mentally, you're confused

because you haven't slept for real in a really long time.

And you introduce drugs into that,

and the results can be disastrous.

And I don't know that it was any one thing,

but I do think it's highly likely

that it was a combination of all of those elements.

It's a tragic ending for someone

who had a lot to live for.

I found nothing online from friends or family

or people close to him that speculated on whether or not

Heath was suicidal.

His sister mentioned that she spoke with him the night before

and he was in good spirits, although he wasn't feeling well

and she told him, "Be careful with those drugs."

And he was like, "Oh, everything's fine," you know?

There was no indication

that Heath was suicidal in any fashion.

According to police, Ledger is the victim of a tragic accident

in the form of a prescription drug overdose.

But in reading the EMS report,

users on Reddit still have questions as to why

Ledger's massage therapist,

Diana Wolozin, didn't call 911 sooner.

It is not fair for us to judge her actions

in the aftermath of experiencing that event.

His masseuse, Diana Wolozin, came upon his body

completely unexpectedly and probably panicked.

Most people would.

It's so shocking to begin with to come across your friend

or client who is at a minimum not responding,

but probably is showing signs that he's no longer alive.

It's like, "What do you do?"

And Ledger's star was rising.

He had just wrapped the biggest role of his career,

playing the Joker in "The Dark Knight."

He went all in, immersed himself in the violence,

the psychotic characteristics

that someone like the Joker would have.

And there were these rumors that sprung up after his death

that perhaps all of that research

and that mind melding actually led to

Heath Ledger taking his life.

People that worked with him and his family members,

Christian Bale himself refuted that

really angrily, in some cases.

He was having a wonderful time making this movie.

I say he couldn't have been happier.

And even Ledger himself describes the Joker

as the best role he's ever had.

How about a magic trick?

It was the most fun I've had with a character, hands down.

Just this character was too good to turn down.

I just want to enjoy myself.

That's just fun.

That's someone who is really getting thrilled

with the process of creating something

and you can let parts of your life slide during it,

but it's not miserable.

Heath mentions that the Joker, this role,

was the most fun he's ever had.

I mean, if the production only had a $100,000 budget,

he would have done it for free

because he really just got to kind of open up.

He truly got into this character,

and you can see how much fun he is actually having.

The thing that surprised me the most, I think,

was how well-liked he was by his colleagues,

by his fellow actors, by his friends.

How he looked out for his peers,

how he took them along for the ride.

He wasn't a diva leading man, Hollywood celebrity type.

He was more just one of the guys,

at least that was the impression that I walked away with.

We might never know what really happened to Heath Ledger,

but one thing is for sure, he was a bright young actor

with so much promise.

The fact that we feel so deprived,

it seems so unfair that he died.

We liked him so much.

It makes the search for an explanation

all the more intense.

He was a heavyweight, and that's the legacy left behind.

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