Thursday, January 24, 2008

So True


This is from a editorial by Star Jones about Heath Ledger.

I agree with her a 100%.

Since we learned of actor Heath Ledger's untimely death on Tuesday
afternoon, the basic fact is that until additional tests have been conducted,
the autopsy is incomplete and inconclusive as to why this 28-year-old man died.
That's what we know.
Let's get to what we don't know: his death was
a tragic accident, or something to the contrary. Until we know for sure, I think
the media should just shut their mouths and stop all the speculation that's been
running rampant.
This man has a two-year-old daughter. His family is going
through the worst time in their lives. Their hearts are broken, they're numb,
they can't understand what's going on right now. Michelle Williams is trying to
figure out how to explain to their little girl that she will never see her daddy
again. It's heartbreaking, tragic, and it's being used to fuel our never ceasing
desire to eavesdrop on the lives of others.
Please let them grieve in privacy
and dignity for a few days at least for goodness sake. As far as I'm aware,
Heath Ledger never did anything but conduct himself in the most respectful and
charismatic way. He gave us exactly what we asked of him -- good entertainment
and our $12 worth when we sat our butts in the seats of a movie theater. He made
his living in the entertainment business, but he purposely chose not to make his
life that way. He was by all accounts a normal guy in every way, a regular dad
who was often photographed walking down the streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn
with his daugther, Matilda.
The scene outside his apartment on the night
Ledger died made me sick to my stomach. People gawking and waiting around for a
body bag to be removed. I have been at similar scenes in my work as an assistant
district attorney. And let me tell you, if you don't have to be there, you
wouldn't want to be. It's morbid. Someone who was loved is in that bag... and
trust me it takes more than a minute to get used to that.
And when actress
Michelle Williams and her daughter arrived home in Brooklyn, the scene was just
as bad. Instead of being allowed to enter her home in privacy, she had to endure
the flashbulbs of the paparazzi waiting to snap the money shot. How she
explained that to her child through her grief is something I hope never to
experience.
Might I suggest that we in the media, instead of reporting on the
dead based on gossip, rumor, innuendo and anonymous sources, choose to honor
this man's memory based on his talent and the good taste we all should be
exercising. My heart goes out to the family of Heath Ledger.

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