Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Ledger's Ex Says Grief Like 'Moving River'

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 22, 2008 6:24 PM CST

(Newser) – Michelle Williams, who stars in a new film about the loss of a best friend, says time hasn’t made mourning ex-boyfriend Heath Ledger any easier. “I’m at heart an optimistic person, but in some ways it just gets worse," the Dawson’s Creek alum says through tears. "It's just that the more time that passes, the more you miss someone." She likens her grief to "a moving river" that takes her to "a slightly different place" every day.

Williams began filming Wendy and Lucy after her breakup with Ledger last year, and “disappears so deeply into her new movie, it's like you're watching a documentary," Ramin Setoodeh writes in Newsweek. But Williams may vanish from films altogether, she says. She will “drop a match on the thing" if paparazzi refuse to leave her and her daughter alone. "I have this thing that I'm in love with—acting—and now it has this baggage."

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

In this Nov. 8, 2008 file photo, actress Michelle Williams, a cast member in the film "Wendy and Lucy," arrives at AFI Fest 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

"It's so sad," Michelle Williams says about losing Heath Ledger. "I just wake up each day in a slightly different place. Grief is like a moving river." (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

"It's so sad," Michelle Williams says about losing Heath Ledger. "I just wake up each day in a slightly different place. Grief is like a moving river." (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Michelle Williams has been all over the tabloids since her ex-boyfriend Heath Ledger died from a prescription overdose last January. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, file)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

The trailer for "Wendy and Lucy." The film opens December 10, 2008. (moviespartdeux)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Williams In High Spirits at Cannes

Ledger ex promoting two films, working with Scorsese

(NEWSER) - Michelle Williams, in her first high-profile appearance since Heath Ledger’s death, seemed in high spirits at the Cannes Film Festival, People reports. She said it was "cool" to be there for the premiere of her film Wendy and Lucy and also to promote Synechdoche, in which she stars with Philip Seymour Hoffman. More»

Michelle: I Nearly Stopped Acting After Heath Died

Williams recalls their romance in 'GQ'

(NEWSER) - After Heath Ledger died, Michelle Williams wasn't sure she would ever want to work again. "That seemed like a really smart idea," she tells GQ in a new profile. "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," thanks to the paparazzi. "It was making me crazy. I felt like I was going crazy. It was too much—trying to deal with what had happened and trying to deal with what was at our doorstep. I just felt trapped." More»

Michelle: Heath's Death Changed Me

But three years later, life has 'repaired itself'

(NEWSER) - When Heath Ledger died, "it felt like we didn’t have anything," Michelle Williams recalls in a new Vogue cover story. But three years later, "my life—our life—has kind of repaired itself," she says. "It's not a perfectly operating system—there are holes and dips and electrical storms—but the basics are intact." Even so, she admits Ledger's death has affected almost everything she does: "It’s changed how I see the world and how I interact on a daily basis. It’s changed the parent I am. 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." More»

Michelle Williams: I Can't Find Meaning in Heath's Death

She opens up in first TV interview since his accidental overdose

(NEWSER) - Michelle Williams is moving on from Heath Ledger's death—and it makes her a little sad. Promoting her latest film Blue Valentine on Nightline , Williams recalled the first year without him: “In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone. It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear 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.” More»

Tarantino Confirms Kill Bill 3

Director will make sequel with Uma Thurman, but needs 10-year break

(NEWSER) - First, the good news for Quentin Tarantino fans: “The Bride will fight again,” he says, confirming his plan to make the third movie in his Kill Bill franchise. The bad news? Not until 2014, notes the New York Post. “I love the character and I think she deserved 10 years of peace. She deserved 10 years with her child, Bibi,” he tells Italian talk show Parla Con Me. “But after 10 years something will happen that makes her fight again.” More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website