Heath Ledger ‘desperately unhappy’ before death, friends say ahead of documentary I am Heath Ledger airing

THOSE close to Heath Ledger have opened up about his mental state weeks before his death as a new documentary on his life is set to air.

THOSE close to Heath Ledger have opened up about his mental state weeks before his death as a new documentary on his life is set to air.

Ledger was found dead on January 22, 2008, with a toxicology report revealing that he died from a fatal mix of prescription drugs and sleeping pills.

Heath Ledger and friend and dialect coach Gerry Grennell on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Picture: Supplied

People magazine reports that Gerry Grennell, Ledger’s friend and dialect coach who lived and worked with the star while he was shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in the final weeks of his life, says the actor was “exhausted, emotionally and physically” while battling a lingering pneumonia-type illness.

“I would hear him wandering around the apartment and I’d get up and say, ‘Come on, man, get back to bed, you have to work tomorrow,’ ” Grennell said. “He said, ‘I can’t sleep, man.’ ”

Heath Ledger takes his daughter Matilda Rose Ledger out on his shoulders for a walk in Soho, NYC. Picture: Supplied

Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams at the Oscars in 2006. Picture: Getty

“He missed his girl, he missed his family, he missed his little girl — he desperately wanted to see her and hold her and play with her,” he says, referring to Ledger’s former girlfriend Michelle Williams and their then-two-year-old daughter, Matilda. “He was desperately unhappy, desperately sad.”

Grennell said Ledger knew he was spirialing but couldn’t stop taking the sleeping pills, even though he had admitted they weren’t working.

“He said, ‘I got to stop, it’s not helping, I’m not well, it’s making me feel more upset,’ ” Grennell says. “It wasn’t helping with the relationship issues, it wasn’t helping with missing his kid, it wasn’t helping his sleeping — and he knew that.”

Heath Ledger (L), Kate Hudson and Djimon Hounsou at the World Premiere of The Four Feathers in 2002. Picture: Splash

Co-stars, including Djimon Hounsou who was seen alongside Ledger in 2002’s The Four Feathers, said they noticed a change in him after seeing him close to his death.

“I looked at him, I thought, ‘Wow,’ with a bit of a concern, you know?” Hounsou said.

Ledger’s sister, Kate, said he was never “doom and gloom” on the phone with his family.

Heath Ledger's mother Sally Bell, father Kim Ledger, and sister Kate Ledger hold the Oscar for best supporting actor on his behalf in 2009. Picture: AP

Heath Ledger was very close to sister, Kate Ledger, seen here together at the 2006 AFI awards. Picture: Supplied.

She did however know he was struggling and warned him about mixing medications weeks before his death.

“I just said, ‘You’ve got to be very careful mixing things,’ and he was like, ‘Katie, hello, come on, of course,’ ” she said.

Michelle Williams (L) and Kate Ledger arrive at Heath Ledger’s memorial service in Perth in February 2008. Picture: Supplied

Kate Ledger said their final phone conversation just before his death was upbeat.

“I was cooking dinner … and we were laughing. Then he said, ‘I’ve got to go, and I’ll call you at 8:30 in the morning’ and that was it. That was our last conversation. I said ‘Okay, I love you.’ And that was it. It’s heartbreaking.”

The I Am Heath Ledger documentary is set to premiere in the US on May 17 following its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23.

Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Picture: AP