Heath Ledger died
of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping
pills, anti-anxiety medication, and other prescription
drugs, the New York City medical examiner said
Wednesday.
The cause of
death was ''acute intoxication by the combined effects of
oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and
doxylamine,'' spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a
statement.
The medical
examiner's office provided only generic names, so it is
unknown whether he took generic or brand-name drugs. Police
had said they found six types of prescription drugs,
including sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication,
in Ledger's apartment.
Oxycodone is a
painkiller marketed as OxyContin and used in other
painkillers such as Percodan and Percocet; hydrocodone is
used in a number of painkillers, including Vicodin.
Diazepam and
alprazolam are the generic names for the anti-anxiety drugs
Valium and Xanax, and the other two drugs are sleep aids
commonly sold under the brands Restoril and Unisom.
Borakove wouldn't
say what concentrations of each drug were found in
Ledger's blood or whether one drug played a greater part
than another in causing his death.
''What you're
looking at here is the cumulative effects of these
medications together,'' she said.
The ruling comes
two weeks after the 28-year-old Australian-born actor
was found dead in the bed of his rented SoHo apartment.
Ledger's family
returned to the actor's hometown of Perth, Australia, on
Tuesday to prepare for his funeral. Arrangements were
private.
In a statement
released through Ledger's publicist, the actor's father,
Kim, said Wednesday: ''While no medications were taken in
excess, we learned today the combination of
doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy.
Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden
dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low
dosage.''
Heath Ledger was
discovered by his masseuse January 22 after she arrived
for an appointment that afternoon. She entered his bedroom
to set up for the massage and found him unresponsive,
and proceeded to call Mary-Kate Olsen three times over
the next nine minutes before dialing 911. Ledger had
been dead for some time, and police say no foul play
occurred. Police said they found a rolled-up $20 bill
near the bed.
Ledger, nominated
for an Oscar for his role in Brokeback Mountain,
had returned to New York from London, where he had been
filming a $30 million Terry Gilliam film, The
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, days before
his death. He said in a November interview that his roles in
the Batman movie The Dark Knight and the Bob Dylan
biopic I'm Not There had taken a toll.
''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 had taken two Ambien pills, which
gave him only an hour of sleep. (Amy Westfeldt,
AP)
