The news of Michael Jackson’s untimely demise brought back painful memories for Heath Ledger’s family. Though the two stars had little in common in life, Ledger’s father feels the similar circumstances of their deaths allow him to understand the struggle the Jackson family now faces.
“On the day Michael died I spoke to my daughters and former wife Sally, and we all had such a down day,” Kim Ledger told Australia’s Women’s Day.
Recounting his own response to grief, the actor’s father shared what the future holds for Jackson’s relatives and warned that the sense of loss only grows after the media attention fades away.
“In the first couple of weeks it’s crazy, and you’re just trying to come to grips with the enormity of it,” Kim Ledger recalled. “It’s not for me to advise the Jackson family how to get through this, but what I will say is the saddest times are now, one-and-a-half years later. The media interest has died down, so I’m no longer surrounded by Heath and all I want to do is pick up the phone, but I can’t.”
Drugs and alcohol almost cost Bateman his marriage
The transition from child star to adult actor led Jason Bateman down a path of booze and drugs, but the now-sober star didn’t clean up for his career. In an interview with Details magazine, Bateman confessed he couldn’t confront his addictions until his marriage was on the line.
“It was like ‘Risky Business’ for 10 years,” Bateman said of his 1990s career slump. “My parents were out of town, they left me a bunch of money, the car and the house, and I didn’t know when they were coming home. I’d worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well.”
Bateman continued his constant party lifestyle after marrying actress Amanda Anka in 2001, but just one year into their marriage, his addiction nearly drove her away. It took an ultimatum from Anka to inspire the actor to go to his first AA meeting.
“I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate,” Bateman explained. “Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It’s like ketchup and French fries — I don’t want one without the other. So that’s the moment: Do you want to continue being great at being in your 20s, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?”
For the sake of his marriage, Bateman chose the second option.
No more nude scenes for Kate Winslet She’s never been shy about showing skin on-screen, but actress Kate Winslet thinks her body-baring days are now behind her.
“I’ll be 34 in October,” Winslet told Harper’s Bazaar. “I can’t keep getting away with (nudity). There was so much of it in ‘The Reader’ because the story required it, but people have seen enough of my bum and my boobs. I have to put them back.”
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It’s not the first time Winslet’s contemplated covering up. After filming her ninth nude scene for “Little Children” in 2006, she admitted each revealing scene seems like her last.
“When you get up in the morning and you know you are going to have to go to work and take your clothes off, it’s the worst day of your life,” Winslet said. “You feel awful. You feel sick. And you remind yourself you must never agree to do this again.”
Dish on the fly Academy Award-winning actress Penelope Cruz suffers unshakable film phobias. “Every time I make a film, I feel like it’s my first time,” Cruz explained to Psychologies magazine. “I always think they could fire me.” Making matters worse, the “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” star’s woes aren’t limited to her work. “I’ve ruined my own happiness and created problems with my friends because of this tendency. It takes discipline for me to stop worrying.” … From the “life’s not fair” department, “Gossip Girl” hottie Blake Lively recently revealed she doesn’t rely on a healthy diet or exercise to look good on screen. “I had to do a scene in a bra and shorts for the first time in two years,” Lively told Britain’s Glamour magazine. “On the day of the shoot, I ate a pork burrito, chips and Coke. Afterward, I thought, ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that.’ But whatever.” … Though he hates watching wife Katherine Heigl kiss her handsome co-stars, Josh Kelley won’t complain. In an interview with Marie Claire U.K., Heigl shared the strong warning she issued to her husband. “It’s not his favorite part of the profession,” she said, “but I told him, ‘It’s my job, and if I feel uncomfortable doing my job, and it suffers because of it, I’ll kill you.’”
Tabloid Tidbits is compiled by Ree Hines.