Jacko’s death has reopened old wounds for Heath Ledger’s family. His dad Kim talks to Natalee Fuhrmann in Perth.
Kim Ledger’s grief for his son is with him every day, but the similarities between Heath’s overdose from prescription drugs and Michael Jackson’s death have left the family reeling.
“On the day Michael died I spoke to my daughters and former wife Sally and we all had such a down day,” Kim says.
It has been almost 18 months since Heath, 28, was found in his rented New York bachelor pad, unconscious after taking a toxic combination of drugs. Kim says the period is too painful to remember clearly, but he has some understanding of what the Jacksons are going through.
“In the first couple of weeks it’s crazy and you’re just trying to come to grips with the enormity of it,” recalls the quietly spoken father.
“There was a funeral to arrange and we didn’t want just anyone doing it. It’s a very private thing and with Heath being so private we wanted it to reflect that.
“Heath [and Michael] were both very private and as the closest people to them, you want to protect that. We found ourselves asking each other, ‘Would Heath have done it this way?’ If not, then we weren’t going to either.
“It’s not for me to advise the Jackson family how to get through this, but what I will say is the saddest times are now, one-and-a-half years later. The media interest has died down, so I’m no longer surrounded by Heath and all I want to do is pick up the phone, but I can’t.”
Kim is blunt about the role drugs played in both the deaths.
“At the end of the day we’re all responsible for what goes into us and I blame Heath for not being responsible,” admits Kim, whose famous actor son combined drugs prescribed by a trio of doctors across three countries, while battling insomnia and the flu.
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