Heath Ledger’s father, Kim Ledger, said he and his family are “terribly happy” for Michelle Williams after her secret marriage to musician Phil Elverum.
“We are terribly happy, it is great,” Kim Ledger told the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend. “She’s very private and I don’t really like to make too many comments about her, but we are very happy [for her].”
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Kim said he was not at Williams’ wedding in New York’s Adirondacks, but is planning to meet Elverum “soon.”
Last week, Williams revealed in a new Vanity Fair profile that she married Elverum earlier this month. There was only a small group of friends in attendance, including their children. Elverum has a 3-year-old daughter, Agathe, from his marriage to the late Geneviรจve Castrรฉe. Williams has a daughter, 12-year-old Matilda, from her relationship with Ledger.
The two met through mutual friends and both dealt with personal losses. Elverum’s wife died from pancreatic cancer 18 months after Agathe was born. And Ledger died in 2008.
“Obviously I’ve never once in my life talked about a relationship, but Phil isn’t anyone else,” Williams told Vanity Fair. “And that’s worth something. Ultimately the way he loves me is the way I want to live my life on the whole. I work to be free inside of the moment. I parent to let Matilda feel free to be herself, and I am finally loved by someone who makes me feel free.”
Williams said she broke her rules about keeping her private life private because she thought her story might help others looking for love after losing a loved one.
“I don’t really want to talk about any of it,” Williams said. “But there’s that tease, that lure, that’s like, ‘What if this helps somebody? What if somebody who has always journeyed in this way, who has struggled as much as I struggled, and looked as much as I looked, finds something that helps them?’”
Williams and Ledger started dating in 2004 after meeting during production on Brokeback Mountain. They remained together until his death in 2008 at age 28. Ledger’s father told the Morning Herald he remains close to Williams for the sake of Matilda.
Williams’ marriage to Elverum was a surprise to many since she was reportedly engaged to New York financier Andrew Youmans in January. She was also romantically linked previously to actor Jason Segel, director Spike Jonze and author Jonathan Safran Foer.
The former Dawson’s Creek actress was last seen in I Feel Pretty with Amy Schumer and stars in the upcoming comic book movie Venom, which opens on Oct. 5. Williams is expected to return to TV next year in Fosse/Verdon, an FX miniseries about director Bob Fosse and danger Gwen Verdon.
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