10 Insane Rumours Fans Started About Movie Stars
No, Nicolas Cage isn't a vampire. Unfortunately.
There's no denying that the cult of celebrity in Hollywood is both a scary and fascinating thing - A-list actors may find themselves subject to intense and even toxic fandoms, whose obsessiveness threatens to overshadow the actor's own work.
Sometimes these fanbases move beyond mere well-intended appreciation towards planting genuinely peculiar, even career-damaging rumours about their supposedly favourite performers.
These rumours can range from speculation about a certain actor's untimely death, to salacious beliefs about their personal and romantic lives, and outlandish theories that they might even be a certain mythic criminal. Yup.
But anyone with a critical eye should appreciate that these "rumours" are more entertaining slices of apocrypha than genuine acts of detective work that should be taken seriously in any way.
Many of them are amusing, enough that some of the actors in question have even addressed them, though the Internet being the Internet, many have decided to buy into these rumours wholeheartedly.
And because these rumours and theories have all gone viral at one point or another, they've managed to seep their way into the general cultural consciousness, having even been reported upon by the wider media, for better or worse...
10. Heath Ledger's Death Was Caused By Him "Becoming" The Joker
Heath Ledger's death in 2008 at the mere age of 28 shocked the world, and given that he had recently wrapped the role of The Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, it caused fans and the press alike to examine his performance through an entirely different lens.
Because Ledger died from an accidental overdose of medications and reported having trouble sleeping in the months leading up to his death, it didn't take long for reports to suggest that Ledger may have gone "too method" as The Joker.
Fans widely circulated the theory that Ledger, who made a concerted effort to get into character as the supervillain, was left unable to sleep due to playing such a disturbing individual, in turn causing his accidental overdose of sleep medication.
This was quickly rubbished by those who knew Ledger, particularly his former partner Michelle Williams, who attested that Ledger had suffered with insomnia for as long as she'd known him.
In more recent years Ledger's immediate family have also spoken out about reports that playing The Joker in impacted his mental health. His sister Kate said that he was "having fun" as the character and wasn't in any way depressed by it.
All in all Ledger's death was a tragic accident and not one caused by playing what would, in bittersweet fashion, become his signature, Oscar-winning role.