Certainly one of your most beloved movies is “10 Issues I Hate About You.” You’ve talked about your friendship with Heath Ledger and the way his passing affected you. However whenever you suppose again to that point, do you ever marvel, “What saved that from taking place to me?” So, I used to be 13, I got here from a troublesome childhood, with out entering into element, and I acquired saved by some means. I acquired placed on Broadway, found off the road, and I used to be immediately an actor with none impetus to be one prior. I typically suppose, had that not occurred to me, I’d be useless—little doubt about it. I’m an addict, at the moment sober—I’d’ve been much less caring about protecting myself alive. Performing is my motive to reside now. It’s my youngsters and performing, however performing was my motive to reside for a extremely very long time, and nonetheless is.
When Heath handed away, I knew why he handed away. I had determined a very long time in the past to by no means do laborious medication. Heath wasn’t suicidal—Heath had a drug drawback. As I become old, it will get tougher to take care of Heath’s dying as a result of I take into consideration how he would’ve been in the present day, that he died wildly younger. It will get extra tragic, in a method, that he’s not right here.
Medicine are low hanging fruit on this enterprise—and alcohol. They’re straightforward to do, and I don’t suppose Heath thought, “Oh, if I do medication, I’m going to die.” Nobody thinks that, however I want I had been extra vocal about my worries and disapproval of him doing these issues. However you simply aren’t within the second—you don’t need to be a buzzkill or a bummer. Yeah, there are regrets I’ve about it, however I do know for a indisputable fact that Heath tried to repair himself proper earlier than he died. He understood he had an issue that was harmful—he got here to know that. It took a extremely very long time, but it surely was too late.
It offers me pause, not as a result of it may have occurred to me—it couldn’t have occurred to me—however as a result of it occurred to my good friend who was a pricey man who didn’t need to die, had a younger daughter and wished to reside and was energetic. It’s a cautionary story—I don’t suppose Heath ever wished to be a cautionary story. He simply wished to be an awesome actor and he was solely simply starting.
Brittany Murphy is one other one. I’ve not often ever met, to at the present time, somebody as energetic as Brittany Murphy. She was a shining instance of spirit and soul. For that to be worn out, it could actually occur to anybody. You bought to watch out.