Michelle Williams carries Health Ledger’s memory near and dear to her heart.
The Greatest Showman star—who shares 19-year-old daughter Matilda Ledger with her late ex—is still remembering the incredible man he was, 17 years after he died from an accidental overdose in 2008.
Because when discussing her Brokeback Mountain costar with Dax Shepard—who shares daughters Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 9, with wife Kristen Bell—hearing about his experiences with Heath brought back so many memories.
“I feel obligated to say that I knew him a little bit when he was getting sober,” Dax said of the actor during a May 19 episode of his Armchair Expert podcast. “I can feel the weight of the world on him in a very special way that kind of broke my heart. I was very, very sad, and I thought he was just so special.”
In response, Michelle gushed, “So special, so special. Thank god there’s Matilda.”
And when the podcast host described the 10 Things I Hate About You actor as “this heart here that’s just leaking out of everywhere,” Michelle couldn’t agree more, adding, “Yeah, an incredible sensitivity.”
Michelle and Heath began dating back in 2004 while filming Brokeback Mountain—which ended up receiving eight Oscar nominations and three Oscar wins after its 2006 release—before welcoming their first baby in 2005 and ultimately calling it quits two years later.
But upon reflecting on the time they spent together, the Dawson’s Creek alum remembers it all as a whirlwind.
“We had a baby,” Michelle recalled, “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. So, you’re really just going with the flow.”
And even now, the 44-year-old—who also shares son Hart, 4, as well as two other kids with husband Thomas Kali—has motherhood to thank for helping her maintain a healthy relationship with her career.
“Kids are such great life checkers,” Michelle explained. “They force you to put your best self in front of them. You can’t abdicate your life and your work and your own desires, but you do have to put them in check and figure out which master you’re going to serve.”
Admitting that she “can’t be equally good” at pouring herself into her work and prioritizing spending quality time with her daughter, she went on to emphasize that, “You have to allow for that give and take, but then also replenish the other things.”
“If you have a big period of being at home, you need to go back to what you’ve left unattended and put some light over there,” she continued. “So I think it’s just this constant back and forth—but making sure that you don’t leave one of them unattended for too long.
As Michelle and Matilda continue to carry on Heath’s legacy, keep reading to look back on his life in pictures.
Heath Ledger 1979-2008
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2008: SoHo, New York
2008: SoHo, New York
NYPD officers removed Heath’s body from a SoHo apartment building Tuesday evening. The preliminary autopsy results are inconclusive.
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2008: SoHo, New York
2008: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
One of the last photos of Ledger, taken on the set of Terry Gilliam’s 2009 fantasy flick about a traveling theater group, Satan and a magic mirror.
2008: The Dark Knight
As the villainous Joker, Heath’s character is scheduled to face off against Christian Bale’s Batman this summer. No word on how this might affect the movie, which is said to be in postproduction.
2007: I’m Not There
As Robbie Clark, Heath is one of six actors playing Bob Dylan doppelgängers in a biopic of the legendary singer.
2006: Candy
In this deeply metaphorical romance, Ledger’s a poet who, along with Abbie Cornish, explores love, sex and, especially, heroin.
2006: Academy Awards
2005: Brokeback Mountain Photo Call
2005: Brokeback Mountain
With his role as heartbroken cowboy Ennis Del Mar, Ledger cemented his place as a household name.
2005: The Brothers Grimm Premiere
2005: Lords of Dogtown
In this ensemble flick, Ledger plays an elder statesman of the early Venice, California, skate scene, mentoring punks like Emile Hirsch.
2002: Four Feathers Premiere
2001: Monster’s Ball
In a leap forward for Ledger’s acting career, he brings plenty of pain to the death-row drama, with Billy Bob Thornton and Sean Combs.
2001: A Knight’s Tale Premiere
2000: The Patriot
1999: 10 Things I Hate About You
Heath first registered on the pop-culture radar opposite Julia Stiles in this high school take on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, which featured this iconic scene in which his character, Patrick, sings “Can’t Take My Eyes off You” to hers, Kat.
1999: Detroit Rock City Premiere
The Aussie actor relocated to the States to chase the Hollywood dream in the late ’90s, first coming to the attention of American audiences as a teen heartthrob in 10 Things I Hate About You.
