Michelle Williams Pulls the Plug on Heath Ledger Drug Tape

Cara Harrington @ Gone Hollywood | Friday, February 1, 2008

Heath Ledger has passed away and we all need to let him go. Somehow the media, being the hyenas that we are, can’t seem to the fact that Heath had some personal problems go. The people behind Entertainment Tonight dug up some video of Ledger indulging in some recreational drugs. (Big hairy deal. What celeb in Hollywood hasn’t at least tried some?) To milk every minute of his saga out, the gossip show was planning on airing the tape yesterday. They reportedly paid over $200,000 for the film that aired in the East Coast but was yanked before it hit the air in the west.

This is the part that I feel is worth attention…..

Michelle Williams and her reps at ID Public Relations sent out a mass email that united fellow PR reps and studio heads. The idea was to launch force against Paramount to forego the footage.

“ET purchased [the video] for a large sum of money in the hope of stirring up a salacious and exploitative story about Heath, which would win them big ratings on the first day of sweeps,” ID rep John Koch wrote.

“We are asking the Hollywood community to pressure ‘ET’ to pull the segment . . . Please forward this message to everyone you know.”

After Paramount received “a flood of calls” the studio nixed the tape and finally became a little more compassionate. Some A-list stars also aired out their feelings and made contact to show their disgust with the idea. Phone calls and emails were received from Natalie Portman, Josh Brolin and Sarah Jessica Parker begging the them to have some respect. Even Scarlett Johansson joined in. She sent a text summing up what needs to become a mantra when it comes to his death and drug issues.