By ninemsn staff and wires
A US television show has cancelled plans to broadcast more footage from a video which shows the late Heath Ledger talking about his use of marijuana at a drug-fuelled Hollywood party.
"Out of respect for Heath Ledger's family,
Entertainment Tonight and
The Insider have decided not to run the Heath Ledger video which has been circulating in the world media," the programs said this afternoon in a short statement on the
ET website.
National Nine News today broadcast excerpts of the video during their 11am bulletin.
Nine's footage was taken from an advertisement promoting tomorrow's edition of
The Insider, which had planned to broadcast more of the damaging video.
In the video, Ledger is heard to say: "I used to smoke five joints a day for 20 years."
"I'm gonna get so much s**t from my girlfriend," he says, referring to Michelle Williams, his partner at the time.
The video shows cocaine being used at the party inside Hollywood's exclusive Chateau Marmont Hotel, but Ledger himself is not seen participating in any drug-taking.
The video was shot two years ago, according to
The Insider, as Williams and the couple's then baby daughter, Matilda, slept upstairs.
Nine's LA correspondent Robert Penfold, who has seen the video in full, said it was heavily edited and several sections were missing.
The footage has surfaced as Ledger's New York-based publicist, Mara Buxbaum, was forced to deny reports the actor refused to check into a Los Angeles rehab centre in 2006 for heroin, cocaine and alcohol abuse.
US Weekly said that just weeks after Ledger and Williams walked the red carpet as nominees at the 2006 Oscars for Brokeback Mountain, Williams drove Ledger to Promises Treatment Centre in Malibu.
The magazine claims edger refused to check in, instead swaying Williams with a pledge to clean up.
Citing unnamed sources, the Hollywood gossip magazine also claims Ledger had been "discreetly reaching out to private counsellors".
Ms Buxbaum said the report was "heinous" and "inaccurate".
"Much of the tabloid reporting is inaccurate," she said in a statement.
"This fabricated story of Michelle Williams attempting to bring Heath Ledger to rehab is just one lie among many.
"The speculation is heinous.
"Let this family grieve privately."
Ledger and Williams met on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2005, became engaged and have a two year-old daughter, Matilda Rose.
Their engagement ended last September.
Ledger, 28, was discovered dead last week in a loft apartment he was renting in Manhattan's trendy Soho district.
An autopsy failed to determine a cause of death, but toxicology tests expected to be finalised later this week should solve the mystery of why the Oscar nominee died.
However, police believe he died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
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