Heath Heath Heath

[ifyoucantfixit]

 
 
 
Heath and Michelle grow apart; plus, Clooney's PDA, Drew smooches Mac guy, along with news on Paul & Renée, Brad, Paris, Gwen and more ...
 
Sept. 4, 2007

Have things gone precipitously downhill for "Brokeback Mountain" lovebirds Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams? That's the word from the weeklies, which report the scowl-prone parents of 23-month-old Matilda recently parted ways after going through a rough patch.

An insider tells Us that Heath, 28, and Michelle, 26, who quickly partnered up while filming "Brokeback" in 2004, "quietly and amicably split a few weeks ago."

Over the weekend, a newly brunette Williams was snapped smiling up a storm while perambulating around her New York neighborhood with Matilda, who's a doppelganger for her dad.

Ledger, for his part, managed to put on a relatively happy face for the press while promoting "I'm Not There" at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday.

"The relationship had been rocky recently," the mole tattles to Us. "They tried very hard to make it work but finally decided to separate. They just grew apart."

The whole "they wanted to make a go of it but drifted apart" spin appears to be the party line for the chatty sources.

"It was rocky for a while," echoes a confidante of the paparazzi-averse couple to People. "They did what they could to make it work."

Adds a verbose Ledger snitch to Star, "They're both artists who are always looking to grow and expand and explore. In their journey, they did not grow together, they grew apart. They've been fighting for well over six months. They really tried to make it work. But sometimes two people are better apart."

Also piping in on the rift reports is Michelle's estranged dad, Larry Williams, who is currently based in Australia as he fights extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges.

He unplugs his piehole to the Daily Telegraph, offering his thoughts on the duo during "this hugely difficult time of their lives."

"I know Heath and Michelle still care about each other deeply and are very committed to being great parents to their daughter," says Williams, who concedes he doesn't know "Heath very well at all," hasn't spoken to his daughter about the purported bust-up and has never met Matilda.

Rumblings of trouble began brewing in February, when the New York Daily News claimed the twosome was giving each other the silent treatment.

"They had a huge fight, and they're not speaking," a spy told the paper, which claimed Heath had been seen sans Michelle on Valentine's Day at a Los Angeles hot spot "in the company of a gaggle of other women (although not misbehaving)."

For now, it remains unclear whether Ledger and Williams will have to go through the legal hassle of a divorce.

They've refused to comment on widespread speculation that they surreptitiously tied the knot early this year, even though both have been snapped wearing bands around their all-important fingers.

"We try not to talk about it, to keep it our own kind of thing. It's obviously very sacred," the ornery Aussie actor told Newsweek when asked about the "I do" rumors in April. However, he did hint that "photos of us wearing our wedding rings" would offer a pretty big nuptial clue.

Williams, for her part, has long referred to Ledger as her "husband," and recently gushed to Vogue that their connection as" strong as love at first sight."
 
 

[Brown Eyes]

Welcome, Bud! Nice of you to drop by with that info! And no, I didn't know that hE!ath was on E!.

Thanks Friend!  Well, knowing how the E! news shows usually go... the segments are usually really, really, really short (in the grand tradition of celeb gossip shows).  So in both the cases of the "News" show and the "Daily 10" show Heath's segments were only moderately short.  So, I'd say that he got a TON of coverage (actually) on this topic tonight.  He also came off as being much more mature and sophisticated than so many of the celebrities that they cover... that I think it was an all-around good thing for him (despite the fact that the topic is certainly unpleasant for him).  I think it was particularly good publicity especially because both shows included the little plug for his new movie.

By the way... if anyone can explain the real difference between the "News" and the "Daily 10" I'll buy them a can of beans.  Where I am, these two shows are run back to back at 7 pm and 7:30 pm.  And almost every night, they repeat almost identical stories.  Granted... the format of the shows is different (I mean how they structure how they talk about the stories)... but the stories themselves are almost always the same.
 

OK... this is WAY of topic... and I don't know if people around here will get mad  ... but here goes anyway.... Within the last few weeks (maybe month or so) the E! News show has begun every night with their normal music and title shown along with a montage of tons of different celebrity shots (many clips from red carpets, etc.).  And, Jake has a prime, prime spot in the montage from the Brokeback Oscars red carpet (I think).  I'm sure he's happy with his publicist for that one.


Also... hE!ath... 
Good one Crayons!
 

[notBastet]

Imagine if you had to announce it in a press release, and be constantly questioned about it by reporters and strangers on the street, and have people speculate -- perhaps even to your face -- on whether it was a mistake to get together so quickly, to have a baby so soon, whether maybe Heath did it so people wouldn't think he was gay (as if it wouldn't have been easier to just not take the role in the first place, if that was a big fear of his, rather than have to marry someone and have a baby to cover his tracks!  ) ...

Excellent points you make.

 

[notBastet]

I've seen pictures of him in this jacket before, because I remember wondering then what the white things were that hang off the bottom (they look like the inside of pockets). This is obviously a very prized possession!

Do you notice that the glasses aren't the red sunglasses?  Could it be lighting?  Me thinks maybe sometimes he chooses to put on the silly red sunglasses, and other times not?

[notBastet]

Hey Heathens....

You probably all already know this by now, but...

I thought I'd post a heads-up that the E! channel ran segments on Heath on both their "News" show and the "Daily 10" show this evening.  They were brief little thingies about the break up or supposed break up and involve the interview that I think you're talking about earlier in this thread (the interview with the hat where he keeps his head down a lot... he also has a few of his little jittery moments).  It's a little interview where he discusses trying to develop a "diplomatic" approach to the paparazzi and celeb reporters by trying to get to know them a little bit.






p.s. This is officially my first post in the Heath, Heath, Heath thread!  Yeehaw!

THANKS!! I did not know, and I will try to catch the repeats tonight.

 

[serious crayons]

the scowl-prone parents

    

snapped smiling up a storm

Good point -- that photo did seem a departure.

Matilda, who's a doppelganger for her dad.

That's for sure ... 

The whole "they wanted to make a go of it but drifted apart" spin appears to be the party line

"Party line"?? Is there ever any other way to describe a couple's breakup?? (That is, short of, one of them was committed to getting married when they came down off the mountain ...  )

He also came off as being much more mature and sophisticated than so many of the celebrities that they cover...

I think that about Heath in a lot of his interviews. Not that it's a very high bar these days ... 

(Confessions of a "The View" watcher: Whenever "the ladies" have a young actress as a guest -- recently, Anne Hathaway and Julia Stiles -- they always ask how they've managed to avoid the fates of their fellow young celebrities: public inebriation and nudity, sex scandals, DWIs, jail time, etc. Apparently that's now the norm, and anything different is cause for curiosity and comment.)

[dot-matrix]

I wish I could find a copy of the interview, I'm still trying , but in it Heath talked about his early days in Hollywood, after 10 Thing I Hate About You and before A Knights Tale, when he was being groomed and styled and presented as the hunk of the moment and how much he hated it.  He said that was why he took the role in The Patriot and Monsters Ball because he wanted people to take him seriously and not look at him as just another light weight Hollywood pretty boy. When that didn't work he said he just took whatever came along in an attempt to sabotage his career and re-invent himself much the same way Johnny Depp did.    I really do feel the changes we've seen in the way he presents himself over the last 5 or 6 years is a reflection of that.  I also remember reading an interview with Naomi Watts once where she said she was always telling him what to wear.

If I find links I'll post them....anyway enough about his sartorial incorrectness.  

[notBastet]

I wish I could find a copy of the interview, I'm still trying , but in it Heath talked about his early days in Hollywood, after 10 Thing I Hate About You and before A Knights Tale, when he was being groomed and styled and presented as the hunk of the moment and how much he hated it.  He said that was why he took the role in The Patriot and Monsters Ball because he wanted people to take him seriously and not look at him as just another light weight Hollywood pretty boy. When that didn't work he said he just took whatever came along in an attempt to sabotage his career and re-invent himself much the same way Johnny Depp did.    I really do feel the changes we've seen in the way he presents himself over the last 5 or 6 years is a reflection of that.  I also remember reading an interview with Naomi Watts once where she said she was always telling him what to wear.

If I find links I'll post them....anyway enough about his sartorial incorrectness. 

Yes, I agree.

To me, it seems more than just "not caring" ... I think he chooses to wear what he does.  Specifically.

(I am flashing back to when I was young and my mom ALWAYS fussed at me to tuck my shirt in, and I NEVER tucked it in.)

I just saw the E! News blurb!!!  Aww, my heart melts, at the little brief interview bit that aired...  That hat (anyone know what it is called?) is now totally endeared to me...

 

[serious crayons]

I really do feel the changes we've seen in the way he presents himself over the last 5 or 6 years is a reflection of that. 

Yes, that sounds right to me.

If I find links I'll post them....anyway enough about his sartorial incorrectness. 

Though something makes me think the subject may come up again ... 

To me, it seems more than just "not caring" ... I think he chooses to wear what he does.  Specifically.

Yes! That's what I meant when I said ... well, enough about his sartorial incorrectness. 

[Meryl]

I thought I'd post a heads-up that the E! channel ran segments on Heath on both their "News" show and the "Daily 10" show this evening.  They were brief little thingies about the break up or supposed break up and involve the interview that I think you're talking about earlier in this thread (the interview with the hat where he keeps his head down a lot... he also has a few of his little jittery moments).  It's a little interview where he discusses trying to develop a "diplomatic" approach to the paparazzi and celeb reporters by trying to get to know them a little bit.

Hey, Amanda, welcome to HHH!  I saw that interview, too, and was amazed at 1) the amount of time they actually devoted to Heath (usually it's two seconds) and 2)  Heath's softened attitude toward the paparazzi.  I hope both things become a trend. 

I looked at E! Online to see if there was a video of it, but found only this earlier video from Sunday's show: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=282c303f-5fff-4989-890d-fcfe6dd5d0ad