Michelle Williams’s lost soul mate

Michelle Williams always knew that she’d lose Heath Ledger, said Chris Heath in GQ. She met the actor on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2004, and instantly fell in love. “The circumstances were cosmic,” says Williams, 31. She was soon pregnant with their daughter, Matilda. “A lot happened at once. It’s a bit like: We had a lot of things to do, because we didn’t have a lot of time.” Their relationship ended three years later, and in 2008, Ledger died of an overdose.

Small comforts helped her through the heartache. “I spent a lot of time taking baths. A lot of tea and baths—double warm.” She often wonders what would have happened if Ledger had lived; would they have gotten back together? “It’s one of my favorite things to imagine,” she says through tears.

Williams spent much of the past three years searching for a new life partner. “I really expected that Matilda would have siblings that were close to her age,” she says. “But I couldn’t make that happen. And now that she’s 6 that isn’t even a possibility anymore. For whatever reason, that’s not our luck, or our path.”

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