Vanity Fair reveals Heath Ledger's custody battle over daughter Matilda
To outsiders, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams may have seemed the perfect laid-back, non-Hollywood couple during the time they spent working on and promoting their award-winning film, "Brokeback Mountain."
But according to an interview in the August Vanity Fair with Ledger's director pal Terry Gilliam, the romance between Ledger and Williams began to dissolve during the Oscar push for "Brokeback."
It was the Hollywood machinery that took its toll. "That was the moment when it changed, when he realized, uh-oh, we perceive the world differently," says Gilliam in the new issue of Vanity Fair. "He didn't care about things like those awards."
About the end, Gilliam recalls:
"He was trying to be decent and graceful, give her whatever she wanted. ... But once it started going south, it went very quickly. He was overwhelmed by lawyers, and there were more and more of them, as if they were breeding. I said, '... Heath, just end it. Get out -- it's bad. You've got to just walk away from it.'"
As Ledger's relationship with Williams unraveled over legal and custody issues, Ledger got angry.
Gilliam went on to say that the legal arguments over Matilda were, "the thing that really made Heath snap. ... He said, '... I'm not giving Michelle anything.'" Another Vanity Fair source adds, "there were definitely heated conversations, and emotions were high" in any discussion of Matilda's care.
Vanity Fair says that Ledger's lawyer declined to comment on part of Ledger's separation.
What do you think? This story sounds very one-sided to us. And why is Gilliam talking about this now? We bet Heath would have hated having his private life discussed like this.
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Photo credits: FilmMagic
Was there really a need for "a friend" to bring this out?
Let Heath RIP.
This is unsavory, inappropriate, and shameless.
RIP Heath
forever loved and missed
This is just my own personal opinion, but I am so relieved the truth is finally coming out about Heath's relationship with Michelle. I really feel for him.....for what he must have went through, fearing he wouldn't have access to his daughter, fearing it would all have to be played out in court as he was a very private man and hated the gossip press, who nearly always got it wrong with him. He was totally misunderstood. . Boy how much he must have regretted not settling down with Naomi Watts, who hasn't got a vindictive bone in her body (no disrespect intended towards Gemma Ward who he was said to be very inlove with and who had made him happy and optimistic about love and love again before his death). Shame on Michelle Williams for using her child to get back at Heath just because he didn't have it in him to make it last with her mainly because of her horrible obsessive and clingy character, not to mention how shocked he must have been when he discovered how ambitious she was. If he would have been any more intelligent, bless, he would have gathered that already by her getting pregnant by him when he least expected it and when they hardly knew eacother. I guess she thought her name in lights with Heath's were a gold ticket to fame, and unfortunately for her, it has been. What a shame that the press treated her like his widow when in actual fact Heath never married her, and couldn't stand her very early on in their relationship, hence she took it out on him via the baby she was only too eager to have to get him. I'm really angry about how the press treated Heath Ledger after his death and how Michelle took advantage of all the lies about them portraying them as true loves. Very angry indeed because it was all the OPPOSITE.
i cannot see the since in bringing this a up
Thank you Vanity Fair for this special on Heath Ledger which finally sheds some truth on his last months. I feel terrible for him that he wasn't allowed to see his daughter. There is a lesson here: don't start having children with somebody you hardly know. If you are a man, use a condom no matter if your girlfriend says she's on the pill, because chances are, she's lying and wants to 'trap' you. Then later on, when the two of you don't work out, just as she tried to trap you via the baby, she'll try to hurt you via the baby too. I'm not saying this is what happened between Heath and Michelle, but it's a possibility.
I don't believe a word! I think Gilliam made a few innocent comments and the rag -mag ran with it. There will always be stressfull times when a couple splits, even if they are on good terms. Another big star just died"MJ" so that subject is on peoples minds, so Heath would come up too, so the rag mag thought up yet another lie to sell more copies. I knew Heath, and I never heard any of this. There are plenty of pics of Heath and Michelle together, taken after they broke up and lots of Heath with Matilda taken not long before he died. They do not look like they are fighting in any of them. RIP my mate. I will always stand up for you.
Well Terry Gilliam and Heath were very good friends and therefore I respect him for speaking out now......someone had to do it and the right person was Terry because Heath's family and close friends are forever gagged from speaking if they want to continue seeing Matilda in my opinion, and what Heath would have most wanted in the world is for them to have a part in her life..
Some 'friend' Terry Gilliam is. Now I know he only cares about cashing in Heath's death ..(promoting Parnassus)
This is sad and so unnecessary. Who is going to interview one of Michele's friends for her side. I have never really followed this couple, but a one-sided interview trashing the mother of his child seems a bit odd and to put all of the blame on her is just wrong. There are two sides to every story.
Why is every magazine and other "legitimate" news sources turning into tabloids these days?
I'm sad to see that someone felt it necessary to tell Heath Ledger's side of the story. Last I checked, Mr. Ledger will still be gone. Maybe not forgotten and yet, here's Vanity Fair and this no-name director "friend" bad mouthing Michelle Williams.
You readers who feel it necessary to know about Mr. Ledger's last few months are an embarrassment to society. You're not entitled to know any of this. Mr. Gilliam had no right to say this and only reaks of needing attention. In the same sentence, you all claim Mr. Ledger's desire for privacy but here you are encouraging the unnecessary need to get into a private matter that belonged between Mr. Ledger and Ms. Williams.
You people are disgusting.