In Wake of Ledger's Death, Pressure on Gossip Weeklies Mounts

Because the gossip weeklies closed their issues this week before Heath Ledger’s death (except for People, which features the late actor on their latest cover), they apparently had to find new ways to keep the rapt public’s attention focused in their direction. Star thought of one particularly unique way of doing this, WWD reports today. The whisper magazine’s editorial director, Bonnie Fuller, guest-blogged about the death over at the Huffington Post, where she would then link back to Star’s Web site for, as she put it, “more coverage of Heath’s life and tragic death.”

But she didn’t stop there. She also turned up the heat by speculating that Mr. Ledger had taken his own life, before an autopsy had even begun. Wrote Mr. Fuller of the actor: “None of his gifts, neither talent nor family, appears to have been enough to combat the demons that apparently led Heath to take the pills that could have ended his young life.”

The autopsy yesterday was inconclusive, so authorities refuse to conclusively confirm or deny that theory. Asked about her suicide conclusion, Ms. Fuller told WWD: “The way I wrote it, I didn't mean to say definitively that it was suicide at all. I felt like I left it open.”