The legacy of Heath Ledger lives on in his movies and his and Michelle Williams‘ daughter, Matilda Ledger. In photos published by the Daily Mail, Matilda, 17, walked alongside Michelle, 42, while wearing a pair of camo pants, an orange top, and a dark blue jacket. Michelle sported a pair of high-waisted jeans, a chic striped shirt, and a navy blue blazer. While Matilda kept her hair loose, Michelle wore hers up with a blue handkerchief wrapped around her head. In the photos, the daughter of The Dark Knight star – who passed away in 2008 at age 28 – bore a strong resemblance to her father. Matilda inherited Heath’s wavy locks and facial features, specifically his eyes.
Matilda also takes after her father in terms of personality. “She’s got an enormous number of his mannerisms. She’s very inquisitive, she’s got his energy, because Heath never slept from when he was two and Matilda’s like that,” Heath’s father, Kim, previously said. “She’s got his energy,” Kate Ledger, Heath’s sister, told Australia’s Channel 10 a few years ago. “Heath never slept from when he was two, and Matilda’s like that. She’s just got this ball of energy, and she radiates this little aura.”
Following Heath’s death by accidental overdose in 2008, Michelle vowed to protect their child. “I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father,” she said following Heath’s untimely passing. “All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up in the best memories of him.”
In 2017, Michelle spoke about how her daughter had bloomed into her own. “For Mother’s Day, my daughter gave me a card that said, ‘Mom, thanks for letting me be me,’ and it was a picture with somebody in high heels on a skateboard,” she said during a press conference for her film, Wonderstruck, at the Cannes Film Festival, per Refinery29. “That’s my ultimate (goal); that’s what I want them to do,” added Michelle.
“What I find most interesting about motherhood in this film [Wonderstruck] and everything that I make about being a mother is being responsive to the child that you are connecting to,” she added. “Personally and professionally, the great (trick to) working with children and knowing children is listening to children, and responding to who they are. Not your idea of a perfect child, not who you want them to be, but who they really are.”
In March 2020, Michelle and theatre director, Thomas Kail, wed in secret, three months after their engagement. The two met while working on Fosse/Verdon in 2019 and welcomed their first child, Hart Kail, in June 2020. They welcomed their second child together in November 2022.