A lot has recently been said about Joaquin Phoenix's amazing performance as the Joker.
However, despite his great interpretation, to many fans, there still is only one unique
and unbeatable Joker. Obviously, who I mean is the late Heath Ledger. We’ve already
talked about his role of Joker in another video, so right now I’d rather tell you
about Matilda Ledger, who’s already turned into a 14-year-old young lady. She’s the
result of the relationship of Heath and the actress, Michelle Williams. How was the short
relationship with her father? How does she remember him? Will she follow in the footsteps
of her parents and dedicate herself to acting? Stay with me to find out the answers to those
and many more questions about Heath Ledger's daughter!
Can you imagine a world without television or without a cell phone? Doesn't it sound
like something impossible in this day and age?
But, although it may seem like it, Michelle Williams, the former partner of the late Heath
Ledger recently revealed that not long ago she had to dust off a television she had in
the utility room so that her daughter, Matilda, could watch the Emmys when her mom received
the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her
role of Gwen Verdon in Fosse/Verdon. Well, Michelle is so not up to date with TV
and everything that is going on that she didn't even know that James Van Der Beek, her former
partner from “Dawson's Creek,” the hit series that made her famous, was taking part
in "Dancing With The Stars". Ah, but yes, once she found out about it, she promised
that from now on, she would always have a TV connected to find out how her friend was
doing and about everything that’s happening in the world. Can someone tell her that she
could use the internet for that? Do you think she wants to keep Matilda as far away from
all the negativity that’s happening in the world today?
But, since we are talking about the not so small Matilda, before getting fully into everything
that has to do with her, let's do a brief review of how her parents met and how she
came to the world. No, I mean, it won’t be THIS detailed but you understood me, right?
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams met while filming the movie "Brokeback Mountain." That
film gave the actor enormous international recognition, and a lot of awards and nominations.
Although he didn’t receive the long-awaited Academy Award, life gave him a much greater
prize. Michelle and Heath's affair was true love at first sight. Soon after they started
dating, they moved to live together, and shortly after the premiere of Brokeback Mountain,
on October 28, 2005, they welcomed their daughter Matilda.
Anyway, I’ve explained how and when everything happened, so now it’s time to fully get
into what we know of the only child of this beautiful couple. When little Matilda arrived
in this world, the life of both Michelle and Heath had changed dramatically. The new dad
was hypnotized with his baby daughter from the first moment and, although he was barely
present in the first two years of his daughter's life, in that short time he was able to leave
an unforgettable mark on her life. When he was asked about his experience as a father,
Heath said: “Matilda is adorable and beautifully observant, and wise. Michelle and I love her
so much. Becoming a father exceeds all my expectations. It’s the most remarkable experience
I’ve ever had - it’s marvelous. ” You may say: but wouldn’t every father say
this about his children? And I will tell you: ehm, not all. But, according to a lot of sources
close to the actor, Heath meant what he said. According to Gary Grenell, his dialect coach
on the set of "Batman: The Dark Knight", when he was away from them, Heath really missed
his girls, Michelle and Matilda. On top of that, the actor had no problem publicly showing
the great love he had for his daughter. Unfortunately, Ledger started having trouble
falling asleep, so he developed a great dependence on sleeping pills, which in turn began to
affect his relationship with Michelle. But it was the cheating rumors that caused the
bomb to explode. The actress moved out of the house and Heath became deeply depressed.
As a form of therapy, he took on more projects including the iconic role of Joker in the
dark version of Batman by Christopher Nolan. To the heartbreak of millions of his fans,
but especially to the devastation of his wife and daughter, on January 22, 2008, the actor's
lifeless body was found in an apartment in Manhattan. Although at the beginning it had
been speculated that Heath took his own life, the post-mortem analysis determined that the
cause of his death was drug overdose. Michelle did what many other women would have done
when she found out how Heath died. But despite that, she couldn't help but feel guilty and
it took her a long time to let go of that feeling.
Before the actor passed away, he wrote a will. But, because he did it in 2003, Matilda wasn’t
even born and he hadn’t even met Michelle yet so they didn’t appear in the document.
So, as an act of solidarity and kindness, the former co-stars and friends of the actor,
Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law donated what they earned for their work in "The Imaginarium
of Doctor Parnassus", the last film in which Ledger appeared.
Thanks to that, and obviously to her mother's work, Matilda grew up in a dignified manner,
although always with her father's irreplaceable absence. But, to be honest, only partly. That’s
because the actor's sister, Kate Ledger, said in the documentary "I Am Heath Ledger" that
in addition to filling her with joy, she must also admit that she was impressed not only
by the enormous physical resemblance but also by all the gestures and body movements that
Matilda had in common with the actor. So in some way Heath is still present among his
family. Despite how devastated Michelle was after
Ledger's tragic death, she never gave up on her love life. It took her a while, but finally,
in 2017 she decided to give love another try and she started dating the financial expert,
Andrew Youmans. Everything seemed to be going great, because in 2018 there even were rumors
that they got engaged. But when Michelle was asked about it, she said it was simply a beautiful
piece of jewelry. And it looks like she was right because the relationship ended soon
after that. But, still, the actress was not going to give
up on finding new love, and that same year she started dating the producer and musician,
Phil Elverum. They both understood each other perfectly, because somehow his story was quite
similar to Michelle’s. He had been married for 13 years to the Canadian artist Geneviève
Castrée but in 2015, just 4 months after she gave birth to their daughter, Agathe,
Phil's wife was diagnosed with cancer. To make things worse, it was one of the most
aggressive versions of that terrible disease and she passed away just 13 months later.
That’s how the singer-songwriter of the indie rock bands, "The Microphones" and "Mount
Eerie" was left alone with little Agathe. Isn’t his story very similar to Michelle's?
Maybe that's why they understand each other so well. So much so that, in July 2018, they
got married during a private ceremony in the Adirondack Mountains, attended by just a few
of their close friends and family. Of course, those who couldn’t miss the ceremony were
the stepsisters, Matilda and little Agathe. Despite how much they had in common, unfortunately,
the marriage didn’t even last a year because last April the media confirmed what had already
been speculated for a while. Since early 2019, Michelle has been spotted
in public several times without her wedding ring on. And yep, in April it was finally
announced that the couple had separated. Ledger's ex-partner doesn't usually talk much
about her personal life and, obviously, even less about her daughter's private life. But
last April, on the anniversary of Heath's birthday, she gave an interview for Live With
Kelly and Ryan. During the whole thing, the actress was relaxed and even made a few jokes.
And, having a teenage daughter, she admitted that she wakes up every morning waiting for
that transformation of her child to happen at that age so feared by parents. However,
Michelle said that, so far, the daughter she had with Ledger remains as well-behaved and
affectionate as ever. The presenters also joked with Michelle and told her that it may
be the first case of a teenage girl who jumps through that difficult age. Wouldn’t her
mum be so lucky! But, that’s not the only time Michelle has
talked about Matilda and how much she worries about her and is concerned with raising a
teenager as a single mom. As the actress said in an interview with Vanity Fair last July:
“When you’re a single parent and that element of provider and protection is missing,
it's scary.”However, the fact that the teenager stays focused and calm is mostly thanks to
the communication that Michelle has with her because in the same interview she mentioned
that Matilda asks about her father all the time. And Michelle tells her about how her
dad loved her since before anyone thought she was talented, pretty, or had nice clothes.
So as we can see, at the moment, all we know is that the girl is growing up with good values
and with a great example that her mother is setting her. And time will tell if Matilda
decides to dedicate her life to acting or not. But if she does so, I have no doubt that
she will show lots of talent. Well, both her parents have shown that they had enough of
it. So tell me what you think of Matilda Ledger.
Do you think that her mother is setting a good example for her? Do you think that one
day we will see her on the screens? Let me know what you think in the comments and don’t
forget to subscribe to our channel to stay up to date with CurioSips! Until next time!