Michelle Williams made a rare comment about how her and ex Heath Ledger‘s 19-year-old daughter, Matilda, keeps his memory alive.
During the Monday, May 19, episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast, host Dax Shepard spoke with Williams, 44, about the impact Ledger left behind, saying, “I feel obligated to say that I knew him a little bit when he was getting sober, and I don’t know that I’ve ever fallen in love with somebody so quickly.”
Shepard expressed gratitude for the time he spent with Ledger. “This is one of the most special boys I’ve ever met, and I can feel the weight of the world on him in a very special way that kind of broke my heart,” he added. “I was very, very sad, and I thought he was just so special.”
Williams got emotional about Shepard’s praise for Ledger. “[He was] so special, so special,” she whispered. “Thank God there’s Matilda.” When Shepard described Ledger as “this heart here that’s just leaking out everywhere,” Williams wholeheartedly agreed, saying, “Yeah, an incredible sensitivity.”
After meeting on set of Brokeback Mountain in 2004, Williams and Ledger started dating. Matilda was born in October 2005.
“We had a baby. But I suppose maybe it’s a good thing about being young is that you don’t have so much life experience that you can contextualize things,” Williams added on Monday’s podcast episode. “So you’re really just going with the flow.”
The pair ultimately called it quits in October 2007 and three months later, Ledger died at age 28 due to an accidental drug overdose. It would be years before Williams made a comment about raising Matilda as a single mom.
“In all honesty, for pretty much everything else, I feel like I’m a believer in not fighting circumstances, accepting where you are and where you’ve been. In pretty much all senses but one,” she told Porter magazine in 2016. “I would be able to go totally down that line of thinking were it not for Matilda not having her dad. You know, that’s just something that doesn’t … I mean, it just won’t ever be right.”
Williams went on to marry musician Phil Elverum in 2018. Less than a year later, the duo parted ways and Us Weekly confirmed in December 2019 that Williams was engaged to director Thomas Kail. They tied the knot in 2020 and have welcomed three kids together.
As Williams’ eldest has gotten older, the actress has reflected on Matlida’s close bond with actor Jeremy Strong.
“[Matilda] didn’t grow up with her father but she grew up with her Jeremy,” Williams told Variety in May 2022. “[She] was changed by [Strong’s] ability to play as though his life depended on it, because hers did. Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child’s broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach her through play and games and silliness.”
