Michelle Williams Opens Up About The Death Of Heath Ledger

It has been a couple of years since the world suffered the sad loss of the brilliant Heath Ledger and this week, for the first time ever, Michelle Williams (the mother of his only child) opens up on Nightline about his death. Michelle appeared on the show to discuss and promote her new film with Ryan Gosling Blue Valentine and in the course of her conversation, she explained what it was like for her the year that Heath Ledger died.

Actress Michelle Williams says she still can’t find the meaning behind Heath Ledger’s death three years ago, in a rare interview talking about the late father of her child who died of a prescription overdose. Williams, who since the actor’s death in New York in January 2008, has remained mostly quiet in interviews about her former partner, told ABC news show “Nightline” this week she could understand why the public was curious about her grief, but still could not understand why Ledger died. “I’ve found meanings around the circumstance but the actual event itself still doesn’t have a … I can’t find a meaning for it,” she said with tears in her eyes. The 30 year-old actress, whose romance with Ledger blossomed on the set of “Brokeback Mountain” …, said she had found “meaning in things and people and relationships that have sprung up and friendships that have strengthened. “I can find a lot of meaning in that, but not in why,” she said. Williams had split with Ledger when he died but was still sharing duties raising their daughter. To deal with her grief, she said she read “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion, the Pulitzer-Prize winning account of Didion’s year following the death of her husband. “In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone,” Williams told ABC. “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.” She said that for a time, she pondered the notion that one’s life can change in an instant. “I got kind of obsessed with that for a while, before and after,” she said. “A lot of things died. There is a line from a book that gave me so much comfort and it said, “When you have truly lost everything, then at least you can become rich in loss’.”

I can’t even imagine what the pain of losing a loved one like this must feel like, and I am very lucky for it. Not that she ever needed to but it’s nice that Michelle is finally able and willing to talk about Heath. The old adage is true, time heals all wounds. And while I doubt that Michelle is totally healed, it sounds like she has been able to move forward in a healthy manner. Here is video of Michelle‘s interview on Nightline, her discussion of Heath begins at 5:12 (after the questions about whether or not Michelle is dating Ryan Gosling):