Michelle Williams Was Never The Same After Heath Ledger's Death

Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger's relationship is a Hollywood love story filled with many "what ifs." The two actors met in 2004 while filming the groundbreaking Oscar-winning film "Brokeback Mountain." As is typical in Hollywood, the two on-screen lovers couldn't help but fall for each other off-screen. As their film took off, so did their whirlwind romance. Shortly thereafter, the pair were engaged and in 2005, the couple welcomed their first child together, Matilda Rose. Ledger was overjoyed by the title of "new dad" and even told the press, "Boy, do I love them both — and [Matilda's] just a beautiful kid" (via People). However, the romance soon hit a rough patch, and two years later, they announced their split.

Just five months after their split hit the headlines, news of Ledger's tragic death shocked the world. ABC News reported that the "10 Things I Hate About You" star was found deceased in his Manhattan apartment from an accidental overdose. Shortly after the news broke, Williams released a heartfelt statement paying tribute to her former fiancé. "I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. ... She will be brought up with the best memories of him," her statement read (via HuffPost).

This pivotal moment changed the course of Michelle Williams' life forever. Here's how. 

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At the time of his tragic death, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams had already split. However, Williams was left heartbroken and struggling to pick up the pieces as she continued to raise their 2-year-old daughter. One of the ways she coped in the aftermath of his passing was by holding onto the belief that he would eventually return. In her first televised interview after Ledger's passing, Williams shared on ABC News "Nightline" that a book titled "The Year of Magical Thinking," by Joan Didion, inspired that "magical" perspective. "In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone," she shared. "It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush. It was a year of very magical thinking, and in some ways ... I'm sad to be moving further and further away from it."

Williams was hounded by the paparazzi in the wake of Ledger's passing, and despite putting on a brave face, the actor has admitted to privately struggling. "I was holding it together by a string and a paper clip in the fall and winter," she told Vogue in 2009 (via People). "I didn't know if I could keep it all together." 

By 2011, the media circus surrounding Michelle Williams after Heath Ledger's death had seemingly dispersed. And it wasn't just the media that retreated. In an interview with Vogue, the actor revealed that the dark cloud of grief had departed too. "[O]ur life — has kind of repaired itself," she shared. Despite her life's return to something like normalcy, the actor explained that she was forever changed after losing Ledger. "It's changed how I see the world and how I interact on a daily basis. It's changed the parent I am," said Williams, referencing their daughter Matilda Rose. "It's changed the friend I am. It's changed the kind of work that I really want to do. It's become the lens through which I see life — that it's all impermanent." 

The notoriously shy and reserved actor also revealed that she found her voice after turning 30. "I have more confidence that I can handle what life brings me. I don't feel scared to have an idea and express it," she said.

In a raw interview with The Daily Beast, the actor revealed how tricky it has been balancing the media attention around Ledger's death with her natural people-pleasing behavior. Williams noted her "Nightline" interview that revolved around Ledger, and slammed the producers for what she claimed was a misleading edit. "I want everybody to like me. I want everybody to be happy. I want to please people," she went on to say. 

On that fateful day in 2008, Michelle Williams' life changed overnight. As she recounted in a 2012 interview with GQ Magazine, she had just finished filming "Mammoth" in Sweden when she received the tragic news of Heath Ledger's passing. After wrapping on that film, she was already signed on to film "Shutter Island," the psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese. Despite the chaos in her personal life, Williams had no other choice but to power through the shoot. "I don't remember most of it," she said of filming. "I've got a lot of holes."

After shooting wrapped, the actor hit a crossroads in her life. Should she walk away from the limelight and retire? "That seemed like a really smart idea," said Williams. "You just want to be able to walk out of your house and turn your face to the sun and stumble down a corner where you have some memory, and you're not really allowed any of that." After taking a year's sabbatical, Williams was approached for "Blue Valentine," a screenplay she had read years earlier and agreed to star in once the director had the funding. When director Derek Cianfrance approached her again with financial backing, Williams said no. She told Cianfrance that time with her daughter was her current top priority.

He ultimately agreed to switch locations so Williams was never too far from her daughter. "I went back internally kicking and screaming," she said of her return to acting. "I am now very grateful."

At the time of Heath Ledger's untimely passing, Michelle Williams and their daughter Matilda lived in a townhouse in Brooklyn, a place she once shared with Ledger. Though she was now a single mother, a rotation of Williams' family and Ledger's loved ones moved in and out of the home, keeping the family unit alive. In 2017, she told The Wall Street Journal that she eventually moved out of that townhouse and found it extremely difficult to say goodbye to a place with so many memories of her late ex-fiancé. "At that time, I was inconsolable, because I felt, 'How will he be able to find us?' This is where we lived, and he won't know where we are," she said through tears. "And now I can't believe I thought that. Maybe what's making me cry is I feel sad for the person who thought he won't be able to locate [us]."

She ultimately overcame that fear and moved to a different part of Brooklyn, where she found a new community for her and Matilda. "I didn't know anyone there, but we've made friends," she shared. "It's a modern family." Part of that modern family included actor Jeremy Strong, who moved in to help raise Matilda. Building a new village taught Williams an important thing about letting go of the past. "The past — you might be done with it, but it's not done with you," she told The Wall Street Journal.

Michelle Williams navigated many changes after losing Heath Ledger. Her career changed, her public profile heightened (much to her objection), and evidently, the way she viewed love and relationships changed. One change that she would've welcomed was another addition to her family. In her candid interview with GQ, Williams revealed that having a young daughter made her put pressure on herself to find someone new to settle down with, so she could have more kids. "Because I really wanted, and I really expected or imagined, that Matilda would have siblings that were close to her age," she said candidly. "I wanted that for her. But I couldn't make that happen." At the time of the interview, Matilda was already 6 years old, and Williams had seemingly made peace with the fact that her daughter with Ledger might never have a sibling.

Though Williams has always shielded her daughter from the press over the years, there are a few facts about Matilda Rose that fans have pieced together from interviews and public outings.

By 2017, Michelle Williams was no longer the 28-year-old young single mom who was thrust into the limelight. She was a 36-year-old woman who walked confidently in her truth and feelings. One truth that she believed at the time was that she wasn't meant to be married again. Williams told The Wall Street Journal that being a single mother and bearing that much responsibility had made it hard to romanticize romance. 

"The romantic idea of meeting your person and having a storybook family life that looks like the model you grew up with — that doesn't really exist for me," she shared. Though being single meant showing up to Matilda's school functions alone and missing the presence of a partner, William said that she still felt fulfilled. "But I have a family; I have the thing you typically get married for. I live in a commune," she explained.

Despite those earlier comments, Williams would soon end up falling in love. A year later, she went on to marry indie musician Phil Elverum. "I never gave up on love," a newly married Williams gushed to Vanity Fair. "Obviously I've never once in my life talked about a relationship, but Phil isn't anyone else. And that's worth something." Sadly, just nine months later, in 2019. A source confirmed to People that the two just weren't compatible and might've rushed into tying the knot.

A few months after her divorce from Phil Elverum, Michelle Williams stepped out with a new man on her arm. Williams announced that she was engaged and expecting a baby with Tony Award-winning director Thomas Kail. The two first crossed paths on the set of the FX series "Fosse/Verdon," in which Williams starred and Kail directed. According to sources, it was Williams' own daughter, Matilda, who played matchmaker for the two colleagues. "Michelle fell in love," a source revealed to People shortly after their announcement. "She is happy and fulfilled and ready for another child." 

Their relationship off set was blooming, just as their collaboration on set was paying off. Williams went on to win multiple awards for her role in the FX series, including a SAG Award, and shouted him out on stage. "Tommy, like everything else in our life, I share this with you," she said during her acceptance speech.

In March 2020, just days before New York City went under lockdown due to COVID, Williams and Kail were spotted out and about wearing wedding bands. Page Six published the photos and speculated that the two may have secretly tied the knot. The news of wedding bells certainly made fans want to take a look at Michelle Williams' dating history.

By 2022, Michelle Williams was a mother of two and expecting her third with husband Thomas Kail. While speaking to Variety, the actor gushed over her growing family. "It's totally joyous. As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you," shared Williams. The notoriously private star even went on to share the name of her son, Hart, who was born during the peak of the COVID lockdown. "It was a reminder that life goes on," she said of his birth.

"The world we brought a baby into is not the world we thought we were bringing a baby into, but the baby is ignorant of that. He experiences the unmitigated joy of discovery and the happiness of a loving home."

Baby Hart was born just 14 years after Williams welcomed Matilda to the world with Heath Ledger, and it reminded her of the beauty of bringing life into the world. "The most ecstatic moments of life and art are the transcendent ones," Williams shared. "Having children is like that. You combine your DNA with someone else to create a new life." Williams explained that her children have inspired her to commit to her work and leave a positive impact on the world.

The media has always been fascinated with Michelle Williams and the daughter she shares with Heath Ledger. Since his death, there has always been interest in the actor and how their family was holding up. Over the years, the fiercely private star has guarded her personal life, but has also offered some insight into being a single mother and raising her daughter without her famous ex. Despite the efforts of the press, she has never truly shared intimate details about her relationship with Ledger. A year after his death, the "Blue Valentine" actor explained to Vogue, "I can talk about grief because that's mine, about single parenting, about trying to balance work and kids. But what I don't have to talk about is what happened between Heath and me in our relationship" (via Cosmopolitan).

As the years passed, Williams has stayed true to that oath. In her 2012 GQ interview, a journalist asked the star if she ever dreamed of the two somehow still ending up together. An emotional Williams gave a heart-wrenching answer. "That would make me way too sad to answer," she replied before bursting into tears. "[B]ut it's also one of my favorite things to imagine."

There is also the striking resemblance Matilda shares with her late father. "Every time I really miss him and wonder where he's gone, I just look at [Matilda]," Williams told Vogue.

Life usually imitates art, but sometimes the best art imitates life. Bradley Rust Gray's 2022 film, "I'll Be Your Mirror" (originally titled "Blood"), wowed audiences at Sundance and even racked up an award. The film centers around a young woman who loses her husband and travels to Japan to reconnect with an old friend. When that friendship turns into something more, she contemplates whether she's deserving of love again. Gray's film connected with audiences; however, the backstory of the film is just as interesting as what appeared on screen. According to Gray, it was inspired by a dear friend, Williams herself, and her experiences with losing Heath Ledger. "We both shared this weight of death, and the feeling that you always carry that weight when somebody close to you dies," Gray shared in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

Williams originally signed on to star in the film, and the original title even came from a dream she had. However, when the film was released, she was nowhere to be seen on-screen. "When we were getting ready to shoot the film, she realized it was all a little too close for her still, and she politely bowed out," Gray explained. Gray went on to recast the role with Carla Juri and had no hard feelings about Williams dropping out of the film. "[I]t was actually okay because it opened the film then to be a little bit more universal. ... [I]n a way, she was like a bridge," Gray expressed to The Movable Fest.

In an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Michelle Williams shared a rare peek into her life as a mother. While speaking with guest host Tiffany Haddish, Williams revealed that she recently welcomed a baby girl via surrogate. "I got to give a big shout-out to Christine because this last baby did not come through my body," said Williams. The arrival of the baby girl made Williams a proud mother of four, with three children under 5 years old. "I'm just like, trying to figure out the sort of like, life-work balance, and ... I hear a lot of people are talking about self-care, and I'm just wondering when?" she joked about motherhood. "Because I'm a working mom so I already have the guilt, and I don't want to take more time away from them, but I understand I need to fill up the tank."

Balancing motherhood and work is something Williams says is the driving force in her life nowadays. "My heart obviously belongs to my children; they tug at it the most. But I really want to be able to have both," she told Entertainment Weekly. Despite attempting to balance both, Williams is clear which role gives her the most fulfillment. "My best day with my children is better than my best day at work. I am more thrilled with that high than I am with a work high," she declared in an appearance on the "Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard" podcast.