Australian actors Samuel Johnson and Heath Ledger both started off their careers on the Australian soap opera Home and Away.
As a friend of Ledger’s, Johnson recently opened up about the actor’s untimely death 16 years ago.
Johnson revealed how the late 28-year-old had confided in him as a friend with his struggles with fame.
Ledger passed away in 2008 from a prescription drug overdose in his New York apartment, deemed by a coroner as ‘acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.’
Johnson shared during an interview on the Will and Woody Show on KIIS FM the baggage that follow both him and Ledger when becoming famous.
Although their levels of fame were different once Ledger hit Hollywood and starred in hits like Brokeback Mountain, they still confided in one another.
Johnson shared a personal story he had with Ledger whilst they were on a walk:
“I did walk down the street with him [once].”
“I remember in about three quarters of a block, there were four girls that fainted.”
“They literally just dropped when they saw him.”
Being baffled by the reality that his friend was a superstar, Johnson continued: “I asked him ‘how do you cope?’”
“And he just looked at me with a world of sadness in his eyes and said: ‘I don’t’.”
Ledger was posthumously awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night.
Ledger’s daughter, Matilda, was gifted the award for her 18th birthday by her family.
