Actor Heath Ledger has achieved a sort of mythic status when the actor passed away so close to his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. To this day it’s still hard for a lot of fans to believe that Ledger is gone, but there is at least one man who is apparently convinced Ledger is still alive, and it has forced No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal to get a restraining order against him.
TMZ is reporting that Tony Kanal and his family have been harassed for the last several months by a man named George Leonardopoulos. He has come to Kanal’s home multiple times, and has even hopped the fence on the property. Leonardopoulos has also been seen wielding potential weapons including a knife. The reason for the harassment apparently stems from the fact that Leonardopoulos believes that Heath Ledger is alive and is located someplace on the property.
The home where Tony Kanal lives was once owned by Heath Ledger, the Knight’s Tale actor sold the home to the No Doubt performer back in 2005. Leonardopoulos claims he also used to live on the property with Ledger, though it’s unclear if there’s any truth to that. He has apparently told Kanal that he needs to be let onto the property, specifically into the garage, in order to “wake” Ledger.
Needless to say this whole story is quite bizarre. The visits to the home by this man, which started in late January, coincide with the anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death, (April 4, marked Ledger’s birthday as well) which may be part of the reason things started when they did. Beyond that it’s unclear what might have caused this to happen now or why anybody would seemingly be so convinced that Heath Ledger is alive when the unfortunate truth is so clear.
Heath Ledger’s death hit a lot of people hard because the actor was so young. He clearly had a long career ahead of him, and fans still wonder what Ledger might have accomplished had he been able to continue to make movies, but this is taking things to an extreme.
In this case it would seem the harassment is attached to the house and not the celebrity who lives there. We tend to see this sort of behavior focused on individuals. Alexandra Daddario has recently had to leave her own home in order to avoid dealing with a stalker.
The cops have apparently been called before, and yet these altercations have continued, requiring a restraining order. The order itself will likely not prevent this man from coming back to the house, but it should change the way the police handle the situation if and when that happens.
It’s unclear if this man’s belief that Heath Ledger is alive is just one man’s unfortunate view or part of some larger conspiracy theory. We’ve certainly seen cases where people believe that others, usually celebrities, have seemingly faked their deaths. It’s unknown why somebody would think Heath Ledger would have done such a thing. Hopefully, this person can get the help they need.