Michelle a few days before Heath's death.

Michelle Williams in an interview given a few days before Heath Ledger’s death. 

Looking up at the ceiling, she measures the time passed since their engagement ended. “Six months. It’s been long and not long. It feels like yesterday and it feels like years ago, but not six months. The distraction of work is utterly invaluable. When I have too much free time, that’s when things start to get a little messy.” Tears pool in her eyes. She smiles one of those smiles. “Matilda’s the prize. She’s bigger to me than any relationship, bigger than the awards. She’s what came out of it.”

“Heath and I had broken up—way before it became a news story—and I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t imagine any place in the world that was gonna feel good to me. When Heath and I first broke up, I did not feel 27. I felt 67. I was like, I’m too young to be feeling like this. I was 26 when we broke up.” It wasn’t Williams’ first heartbreak. “But it was,” she says, “the first time I wasn’t expecting my heart to be broken.”