Call our Free 24/7 Helpline Now

Michelle Williams Deals With Grief Over Heath Ledger One Year Later

This is obviously a blog about women and addiction, so it may seem like a post about the one year anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death is out of place.  However, there is a woman and a young girl forever entwined in his life story.   Unfortunately, this addiction tragedy has been played out in front of the entire globe.

Heath Ledgers Death From Lethal Drug Overdose

Reports stated that Heath had been at a drug rehab center for heroin addiction about six months before his death.  He had apparently just split with Michelle Williams around that time as well.  They were engaged at the time, but reports were that their relationship had gotten rocky.  And interview of Jake Gyllenhaal claimed that Heath had been sinking into a depression for months, and loved ones were growing worried about him.

Over the last year, it has been officially determined that Heath died of an overdose of oxycontin, hydrocodone, Valium, and two types of sleeping pills.  In interviews, Ledger himself stated that his role as The Joker was intense and demanding.  His broken relationship with Michelle was apparently difficult, as well as spending much less time with his daughter.

Heath Would Not Go To Drug Rehab

News sources say that Michelle tried to talk Heath into going to drug rehab for his heroin addiction in 2007.  She apparently even drove him to one drug rehab center, insisting that he get help, but he promised to get clean on his own.   It seems that ultimately, Heath’s drug use had a strong role in their breakup.

Michelles Life After Heaths Death

So now it is a year later, and Michelle has been doing her best to stay out of the limelight.  How did his drug use affect her?  How did it affect their daughter?  How will his death impact their daughter’s life when she has few memories of him alive?  Well, these questions may go unanswered for a long time.

Michelle will reportedly only talk candidly about Heath’s death off-record.  And the long-term impact on Matilda will be hard to predict.  It’s been said she will be raised with the best memories of him.  However, Matilda will not be able to escape the eventual truth of her father’s troubled last months alive.

As a mother and fiancee, she faced a heartbreaking decision to take herself and their daughter away from Heath.  Clearly, he meant a lot to her.  However, she saw that the direction his life was taking was unstable for all of them.  And even though this story has taken place on the world stage, her story is very common among families with addiction.  Spouses or partners of an addicted person, often with children in the mix, have to make emotionally difficult choices about keeping family members apart.  Addiction was destroying their relationship, she was concerned for Matilda’s well-being in his care, and she made the healthy choice.

Drug Rehab Could Have Helped Heath Avoid Deadly Outcome

So again, time will tell just how Heath’s shocking death will ultimately impact Michelle and Matilda’s life.  Heath could have taken drug rehab more seriously, but it’s nearly impossible to speculate how his mind was working back then.  He might have still been alive now with drug treatment.  However, a person with an addiction has to accept the help at drug rehab in order to really benefit from it.  It’s one of many unanswered questions Michelle will likely ponder in her grief.  Hopefully, she can find some escape and peace through her acting and time with family.

Where do calls go?

Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline will be answered or returned by one of the treatment providers listed, each of which is a paid advertiser: ARK Behavioral Health, Recovery Helpline, Alli Addiction Services.

By calling the helpline you agree to the terms of use. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses. There is no obligation to enter treatment.