Heath Ledger, an actor who began his career when he was a toddler, fell unexpectedly on January 22, 2008, at the age of 28. His corpse was found on the floor of his leased flat in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City by both his masseuse and his cleaner.

Unfortunately, despite the arrival of emergency personnel at the site, they were unable to revive him after he had stopped breathing. At the time, a lot of people in the media were speculating about what caused his premature demise, and some of those rumors suggested that he may have been abusing illicit drugs.

However, according to the toxicology study that was conducted by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office, he passed as a result of an unintentional “abuse of prescription pharmaceuticals.” These prescriptions included painkillers, sleeping pills, and anxiety meds.

After transferring his remains to his native Australia and holding a memorial service in New York City and Los Angeles in his honor, the family of Heath Ledger then cremated him in a private ceremony that was attended by his family and friends. Ledger was laid to rest in Australia.

The famous actor is survived by his daughter Matilda Ledger, whom he shares with the actress Michelle Williams. Matilda was the only child the actor ever had. The two were never wedded to one another.

On the set of “Brokeback Mountain” in 2004, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams first crossed paths. In the film, he portrayed the role of a closeted homosexual guy named Ennis Del Mar, and she portrayed Alma, his wife and longstanding love. Because of a sledding mishap that occurred on the scene, the two found themselves falling in love with each other very immediately. It really was love at first sight for them.

Within a few of months, the couple that had been dating became engaged and then shared the news that they were expecting their first child together. The on-screen couple announced the birth of their daughter Matilda in October 2005, only a few days before the movie was released to the public. Williams looked on the development of their brand new relationship during the year 2012 and said:

“The circumstances surrounding our first encounter, as well as our first meeting itself, were cosmic or something like that. Indeed, a great number of occurrences occurred all at once. It’s kind of like how we had a lot of stuff to accomplish due to the fact that we didn’t have a lot of time or anything.”

After being together for three years, Williams and Ledger decided to go their own ways in September 2007. The separation took place four months before the untimely passing of the former partner. The reasons for the two people’s breakup were never fully explained.

After Heath Ledger passed away in 2008, the senior editor of People magazine at the time, JD Heyman, claimed that despite the fact that Ledger was a party-goer, his girlfriend was not, and that the couple’s lives were incompatible:

“Certainly, Heath Ledger was known for his partying ways. He enjoyed going out and about. It was common knowledge that he used illegal narcotics. […] Because of the way he lived his life, Michelle Williams did not believe that it was possible for them to have a child together and maintain their relationship at the same time. She had feelings for Heath, despite the fact that their relationship did not work out.”

Following the passing of the child’s father, the mother of one took a break from her career in Hollywood and relocated to the upstate region of New York with her daughter, Matilda.

Williams did her best to shield her daughter from the public eye while she was growing up. They uprooted their lives and moved to a farmhouse in the countryside, where they remained rooted for the next six years.

The resemblance between Matilda and Ledger is uncanny.

It has been 15 years since Ledger passed away, and Matilda, who was his daughter, is now 17 years old. She has matured into a person who resembles him almost exactly. This is shown through photographs of the young person dating as far back as the year 2021.

The wavy, sandy-colored hair and facial traits that Matilda has were passed down to her from her father. In addition to bearing an uncanny likeness to her father, her grandpa, who is Ledger’s father Kim, has said in the past that she has her father’s demeanor.

Kim listed numerous characteristics that his granddaughter has that are comparable to those of her late father, suggesting that she even possesses some of her grandfather’s characteristics from when he was a child:

“She has picked up a significant number of his mannerisms, for example. She is extremely curious, and she has his boundless energy; Heath never slept from the time he was two years old forward, and Matilda is the same way. She exudes this little aura and this ball of energy, both of which are emanating from her. That was sort of Heath’s personality.”

She Walks in Her Father’s Footsteps

It should come as no surprise that Matilda now follows in the footsteps of her father. It was previously said by a reliable source that the child had started shown an interest in one of Ledger’s former hobbies, chess.

According to the source, the actor from “The Patriot” enjoyed playing the board game, and now his kid is becoming more skilled at it; in fact, the youngster now possesses the actor’s “old chess board.”

The source gushed over Matilda’s skill at playing the game, adding that her mother thinks it’s a nice diversion for her to use so that she won’t get into mischief:

“Matilda has the potential to go all the way to the Grandmaster level. Michelle [Williams] believes that this is a wonderful thing, and that it will keep her from engaging in questionable behavior.”

Williams and her daughter went back to the city after being on the outskirts for a number of years. She acquired a home in Brooklyn, which is where the two of them had been residing before to uprooting their lives. She gave an explanation for her choice to relocate in the first place, explaining that it was because the situation had become “intolerable.”

Prior to that, she and Ledger shared a townhouse in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, that was valued at $3.6 million. The father of one once said that he had a favorable opinion of the location: “I like every aspect of living in Brooklyn. I love it.”

Even though the Hollywood actor had not named his daughter as a beneficiary in his will when he passed away, she was still able to receive his money, which amounted to $16.3 million.

Two years before the birth of his kid, Ledger wrote a will in 2003 that bequeathed his riches to his parents and sisters. This was done two years before the birth of his child. Many people thought, when he passed away, that the mother of his daughter would fight his will, which named their daughter as the only beneficiary of his estate. However, since his family had already agreed to leave his whole inheritance to his children and grandchildren, this was never a problem.

It is reported that Matilda and her mother have a much closer relationship now that dad has passed away. Williams, a recipient of an Emmy Award, said that despite the fact that her daughter had entered the adolescent period, she had not yet demonstrated normal teenage behavior, and the two of them had maintained their tight link. Williams made this assertion over the course of many years.

Williams said that despite the fact that she would look forward to it year after year, it seemed as if her kid had somehow bypassed the stage entirely.

“Matilda does not seem to have experienced the difficult adolescent years as all, since she has not yet reached this stage. Every morning when we get up, I wait to see whether the change has taken place and if it has progressed to the next level that I keep hearing about, but we haven’t arrived at that point just yet “remarked the elated mother.