Michelle Williams has yet to find meaning in Heath Ledger's death

Michelle Williams has quite the heavy movie on her hands with "Blue Valentine," but she went into even deeper emotional territory in a recent interview to promote the romance flick.

Williams chatted with Cynthia McFadden about the death of Heath Ledger and her search for meaning in the loss, on Tuesday's "Nightline."

"In a strange way, I miss that year because all of those possibilities that existed then are gone," Williams said of 2008, when Ledger's prescription-drug overdose shocked the world. "It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush."

"In some ways I'm sad to be moving further and further away from that."

Williams and Ledger's relationship was solid through the birth of their daughter, Matilda, in 2005, but took a downturn leading to separation in 2007. After Ledger's death, Williams turned to Joan Didion's book "The Year of Magical Thinking" to cope.

McFadden pressed the actress to see if she'd found meaning in Ledger's death.

"I found meanings around the circumstances but the actual event itself ... can't find a meaning for it," Williams said.

Watch the full clip below, then sound off in comments. "Blue Valentine" opens Wednesday.

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-- Matt Donnelly
Twitter.com/MattDonnelly 

Photo: Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger at an NBA game in Los Angeles on March 6, 2006. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

 

Comments

[Kristy]

WOW thank you for a great interview. Michelle is a true professional and i an not wait to see the Movie when it hits here in Australia. Sincere thank you again

[Elle]

She is young, yet so talented and comes across wise, humble and seems like such a good mom. I am not one for celeb 'role models', but Michelle could teach us all something about grace in tragedy, bravery, humility and so on.

[David F Pawlowski]

Perhaps one way Michelle Williams can find closure is to highlight the possibility that Mr. Ledger did not die from a wild life style, but an undiagnosed condition known as obstructive sleep apnea that has been known to kill men by heart attack. If Mr. Ledger had sleep apnea then he would likely have been a heavy snorer. He would have also been likely complaining about waking up "exhausted", which is common with apnea because the sufferer wakes up 50 - 150+ times a night (yes) as they stop breathing and start suffocating as their oxygen level in their blood stream drops. CO2 level in the blood start going up triggering the pulse to race and the person to begin to wake in a panicked state. If Mr. Ledger believed that he was getting a bad nights sleep because he was "anxious" or suffering from "insomnia" and then started taking medications for that potentially flawed diagnosis then he would have been at even greater risk for heart issues due to suppressing the normal survival mechanism when the apnea was causing suffocation. Finally, If poor Mr. Ledger was drinking alcohol which is very common with folks who have undiagnosed apnea then he would have been further at risk to having hear arrythmia and other negative health effects associated with undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. May the Ledger family find some peace in knowing their son had no death wish, but did likely have an undiagnosed case of severe obstructive sleep apnea.

[Bluegardenia]

I can't remember anyone's death as upsetting to me as Heath Ledgers. I'm not sure even why it upset me so much. I am a film buff. I was bowled over by his performance in Brokeback Mountain...and a small Austrailian fllm called Candy. I knew when I saw Brokeback that this was a GIANT star and that his acting was sheer brilliance. Maybe that was why. Maybe knowing how much was lost to his fans and the terrible loss to Michelle Williams and Matilda and his family in Austrailia. So it's good to see Michelle smiling again.