Heath Ledger Found Dead

By now you've most likely heard the news that actor Heath Ledger was found dead yesterday in his New York apartment at the young age of 28. When I first heard the news, I couldn't put his name with a face. I didn't know his career that well.

Reading news reports today, his autopsy is apparently inconclusive right now pending toxicology reports. It is said that there were sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medications nearby, and it is thought to be an accidental overdose at this time.

This is not by any means a post against medications. Most who read this blog know that I use them personally. This is primarily a post about the pressure that people are under today to be someone they're not. That's a sad and dangerous thing.

Read what Heath had to say himself:

Ledger split last year with Michelle Williams, who played his wife in "Brokeback." The two had a daughter, the now 2-year-old Matilda, and had lived together in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood.

Early Wednesday, Williams and Matilda left Trollhattan, Sweden, where the 27-year-old actress had been shooting scenes for the upcoming film "Mammoth," said Martin Stromberg, a spokesman for film production company Memfis Film.

"She received the news at her hotel late last night," Stromberg said, adding he had not spoken to the actress after she learned of Ledger's death. The actor's personal strife was accompanied by professional anxiety.

Ledger said in an interview in November that "Dark Knight" and last year's "I'm Not There," took a heavy toll. He said he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour.

My mind wonders .... did he have any support around him? Who knew really what kind of pressure he was under?

What does this have to do with you? What is your support structure like? Who knows you really? Are you being realistic about the pressure you live with on a daily basis and responding to it in healthy ways?