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The Buzz on Heath
By Andrew Hornery
September 10, 2005
A week after revealing he put his 1978 Aston Martin up for sale, we can now report that the actor Heath Ledger has also been causing all sorts of commotion around Bronte over his renovations.
Ledger paid $4.5 million for his rambling home more than 18 months ago, and since January he has had builders frantically remodelling the interior and exterior. So far they have put dark tints on all the windows to thwart nosey paparazzi and painted the house a very dark shade of grey, though at least one neighbour says it's an improvement on the old "pooey beige" colour the house was previously painted.
Word on the street is that Ledger may be planning to sell the house, having already contended with photographers hovering above the home in helicopters with telescopic lenses and others sitting in cars across the street on stakeouts whenever he is in town. "Bronte is scaring me at the moment," Ledger was recently quoted as saying. "I feel like the paparazzi are going to kick me out of that city."
Ledger's pit-bull publicist Mara Buxbaum was being very territorial around the star this week, declining to comment on anything to do with the house or his relationship with Sydney photographers.
"Perhaps it's a more interesting story that he was reigning at the Venice Film Festival with three films," she fired off in an email this week. "[The film] Brokeback Mountain received an extended standing ovation with everyone talking best actor Oscar for Heath. The reviews in Variety and Screen International and Hollywood Reporter are unanimous in their praise. This is a great time for him."