Michelle's sorrow for HeathAS the world mourns the loss of the prodigious talent of Heath Ledger, attention has turned to the sorrow of his former partner, Michelle Ingrid Williams.
Ledger's most challenging and rewarding role was that of family man and there are fears that the loss of his greatest love may have prompted the anxiety and insomnia that could well have cost his life.
The split in September with his then-fiancee and mother of his beloved daughter, Matilda, came as a shock to many.
The couple, whose love story had played out publicly - both as co-stars on the set of Brokeback Mountain, then in a world tour promoting the film - had seemed perfectly matched.
Indeed Ledger, a wildly successful performer who clearly never wanted to be a celebrity, had been unusually forthcoming in interviews about his feelings for 27-year-old Williams.
"The level of synchronicity that's in my life now, with me and Michelle and now Matilda, has meant it's become everything to me - the most important thing I do,'' he once said, of family life.
"My child smiles up at me in the morning and that's it - I feel connected to life, this is what it's all about.
"Before, I felt like I was floating through life, like a ghost - I may not have even existed - and now I feel physical and grounded and life now is about as real as it gets. There's something very cosmic about the experience of parenthood. Suddenly, you get the right perspective and priorities.''
Ledger said he and Williams, a former child star who made her name in the soap series Dawson's Creek, had fallen for each other almost as soon as shooting started on Brokeback Mountain, in Canada.
"We were knee-deep in snow and on the fifth take, Michelle and I were tobogganing down the hill _ we were supposed to fall off, having a fun time,'' he said.
"(But) Michelle was screaming in pain. She'd twisted her knee - she was pretty much on crutches for the rest of the shoot. And I felt I always had to look after her after that.''
The romance was so swift that Williams was pregnant before the shooting finished and had given birth to Matilda before the film's release.
"Becoming a father definitely exceeds all my expectations, but I was always expecting it and a lot from it. It's marvellous - and the most remarkable experience I've ever had,'' Ledger said.
Friends and co-stars reflected last week on the powerful bond that the pair had shared.
Screenwriter Luke Davies, whose film Candy was the first shoot Ledger took part in after Brokeback Mountain, wrote of their obvious bond during a night in Sydney.
"He seemed, at times, quite literally beside himself with love for her, unable to contain his excitement,'' Davies wrote last week.
"I remember one night during pre-production, in an almost empty nightclub in Kings Cross, watching him sweep her to her feet and swirl her around an empty dance floor, much to the relief of a bored DJ.
"It was a completely private moment - he wasn't doing it for the benefit of others, those of us settling into our seats or buying a round.
"He wanted to dance with Williams. He seemed to carry that same I-can't-believe-it-can-feel-like-this grin from 10 Things I Hate About You.
"I had the odd sensation, watching them, that their experience at just that moment was a little more intense than mine. I almost felt the need to avert my eyes - that pure joy again.''
Williams was not just his lover - she became his defender, after a nasty run-in with paparazzi photographers spurred the pair to move out of their Bronte home, in search of privacy in New York City.
The young star who, like Ledger, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Brokeback Mountain, had the grief of his death etched across her face in grainy photographs taken a day after her former partner's shock death.
Williams had been in Trollhattan, Sweden, where she had been shooting scenes for the upcoming film Mammoth, when she was told.
It is not known why their love story fell apart. Neither has spoken about it publicly.
Even in a world of cynical movie-star romances, their relationship seemed special.
Those moments on the red carpet, when they looked at one another and smiled, seemed to have extra intensity.
But like so many relationships in the glare of public life, it just simply crumbled.
At the time of the separation, there was no official statement - just confirmation of the break-up from a "source'' to a US tabloid magazine.
Saying the relationship had been troubled for some time, the "friend'' said the pair had simply grown apart.
Ledger moved out of the Brooklyn townhouse that he and Williams shared, into the SoHo, Manhattan, apartment where he was to die.
He still spent time with his daughter, but filled his other hours with long periods of socialising and a frenetic work schedule.
Since Ledger's death, reports have emerged of a complicated web of relationships with a series of glamorous women.
The number and beauty of these women is not unlike those who played a role in Michael Hutchence's life before his untimely death in Sydney in November, 1997.
Hutchence's partner, Paula Yates, never recovered from his death and died of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 40, in September, 2000.
The death of Yates left their daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence, an orphan.
Much younger than Yates, Williams must now confront her own grief, the public outpouring for her ex-fiance - and the women who filled his days in her absence.
It is a lot to ask of a 27-year-old single mother.
Ledger's close-knit family, devastated over his death, has promised to keep looking out for the little girl whom he loved so much.
"You lived life with courage and daring and we are so grateful for the wonderful times we shared,'' his mother, Sally, wrote in one of a number of heart-rending death notices in The West Australian newspaper on Friday. "We will be there for Matilda.''
Let's hope there is as much consideration for Williams .
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23119658-948,00.html?from=mostpopThis article is good, i think we should all take a moment to think about Michelle. Not just Matilda.
I am sure her pain would be as sorrowful as anybody Else's.
Lets hope there is some more consideration.
