Michelle Williams on Raising Matilda Without Heath Ledger: ‘It Just Won’t Ever Be Right’
Michelle Williams knows a little something about grief. Perhaps that’s why her performance in Manchester by the Sea is already generating Oscar buzz. In her new film, Williams plays a heartbroken mother struggling to cope with a family tragedy.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” the 36-year-old actress tells Porter magazine about the emotional storyline. “It’s like the darkest part of your heart, something happening to your child … She’s making a brave choice, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. Because it is a choice. I would exit… It would be so much easier than living with the loss.”
Williams dealt with her own family tragedy years ago. She is raising her 11-year-old daughter Matilda alone after Matilda’s father, Heath Ledger, died in January 2008 from an accidental overdose. He was 28.
“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 tells the magazine for its Incredible Women issue via the Huffington Post. “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.”
Related: Celebrities We Lost in 2016
As for the current state of the star’s personal life, Williams adds that she’s “really sensitive” about dating. Her priority is giving Matilda a wonderful life.
“I watched [Matilda] warm in the sun, in her swimsuit, get on her bicycle and smile and wave as she rode off to go meet her friends. I went back into the house and sobbed because of this incredibly simple moment ― common everyday happiness. I really felt like in that moment, like wow, we’ve done it,” Williams says. “Not only are we OK, she’s happy. Life has brought us to a place that’s not just surviving, but thriving.”
Related: Busy Philipps Has Crab Cakes Dumped on Her at ‘Manchester’ Premiere Afterparty, BFF Michelle Williams’s Face Says It All
The Dawson’s Creek alum has a great support system around her — like bestie Busy Phillips — so it’s no wonder they are doing so well.
