Heath Ledger was very honest about the fact that all he really wanted to do was act. He wasn't cut out for everything else the studios asked of him, and he knew it.  He didn't want to be a celebrity, he didn't want to promote, he didn't want to spend a large portion of his time manning a machine that made what he offered a product, and took him too far away from his art.

He could have been speaking for many of us in creative endeavors being pushed to spend more of our time than we want, or sometimes can give, on producing and selling, and less and less on creating. Creative genius does not thrive on tight production schedules long term, and generally needs quiet, space, and time away from the cacophony of society to continue. The movie business is making a hash of its artists and their lives. Television is not too different. The music business does not appear to be particularly easy on musicians. And too many book publishers are now looking mainly for "celebrities" also ready to mega-sell themselves and their "product."

As long as the money keeps rolling in, the business people may think this type of operational model works great, but the artists, not so much. And death, figurative or literal, is not a price any artist should have to be willing to pay to make a living...