WKRG.com » News Stream » National »

Mary-Kate Olsen Called First

By From Times Online

The frantic moments surrounding the discovery of Heath Ledger's naked body have begun to emerge, with reports that the massage therapist who found him telephoned Mary-Kate Olsen twice before calling an ambulance. Mary-Kate Olsen Called First

Published: Thu, January 24, 2008 - 10:25 am Last Updated: Thu, January 24, 2008 - 10:30 am

The masseuse who found the Hollywood actor Heath Ledger dead in his New York apartment made two calls to actress Mary-Kate Olsen before calling the emergency services, authorities said today.

Diana Wolozin told police she first called Olsen, a friend of Ledger’s whose number was in his mobile phone, for advice when she thought the 28-year-old actor was unconscious.

Olsen, who was in California at the time, but lives in Manhattan, said she would send over her private security. The massage therapist realised that Ledger might be dead, called Olsen again, and then called 911. Paramedics and Olsen’s security people were said to have arrived minutes later.

It also emerged that Ledger had six different types of drugs inside his apartment, including three – sleeping pills, anti-anxiety tablets and an anti-histamine – which were prescribed in Europe. Ledger was in London last week, filming the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with Terry Gilliam.

Post-mortem results have so far proved inconclusive, and the cause of his death will not be known for around 10 days, according to the authorities.

A rolled-up $20 bill was also found on the floor near the Australian actor’s bed, but lab tests detected no traces of drug residue, officials have said. Police also said no illegal drugs were found in the apartment.

It is thought the Australian actor probably died between 1pm and 2.45pm local time on Tuesday.

At 1pm, housekeeper Teresa Solomon went into his bedroom to change a light bulb, saw him sleeping and heard him snoring.

At 2.45pm, Ms Wolozin, the massage therapist, arrived for Ledger’s appointment, knocked on his door and got no answer.

She tried to call him on his mobile phone, but again got no response. She went into the bedroom, set up her massage table and again tried to wake Ledger.

Ms Wolozin told police that Ledger was cold to the touch, but that she assumed he was just unconscious.

She said she then used his mobile phone to call Olsen, whose number was programmed into the phone, because she knew they were friends.

“I didn’t think anything was wrong,” the housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, told the New York Post. She said she was “still shaking; and unable to sleep" a day after the actor’s death.

The pills were found near his body and Ledger recently admitted taking the prescription drug Ambien to combat insomnia.

According to unconfirmed reports in the US, the actor had also been suffering from pneumonia.

The authorities have corrected initial reports that pills were found strewn around the room. Instead, the medication was found in containers on the bedside table and in a bathroom cabinet.

Ledger’s family insists his death was accidental. The Brokeback Mountain's former fiancee Michelle Williams and their two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose they returned

to their home in the Boerum Hill area of Brooklyn late last night.

Williams, who was filming the movie Mammoth on location in Sweden when she heard the news, immediately flew back home to New York with their daughter.

Last night, the pair arrived at their house in a black SUV and both were rushed inside by friends and security guards. They made no comments to the photographers and reporters outside.

A note placed outside the Brooklyn house which the couple once shared read:

“You were an amazing actor as well as a wonderful father. We love you! The Vega Family.”

Ledger and Williams met while filming Brokeback Mountain but split up last year.