Heath Ledger was involved in numerous high-profile relationships throughout his life.
The Academy Award-winning actor spent several years and had a child with Brokeback Mountain costar Michelle Williams, but he was linked to Heather Graham and Naomi Watts earlier in his life. Ledger also had a brief romance with model Gemma Ward in the final weeks of his life.
Ledger tragically died at just 28 years old in January 2008 from an accidental overdose as a result of prescription drug abuse. He left behind his and Williams’ daughter, Matilda.
Keep scrolling for a look back at the women of Ledger’s life:
Lisa Zane
The actress and songwriter — who is the sister of Titanic’s Billy Zane — dated Ledger from 1997 to 1998 after they starred together in Fox’s short-lived adventure series Roar.
Filmmaker Matt Amato was close friends with Ledger during this period and would later be involved in the making of 2017 documentary I Am Heath Ledger. Amato credited Lisa with helping clean up Ledger’s image prior to his breakout success in 10 Things I Hate About You.
“I was living with Lisa Zane, and she took him by the scruff and brought him to L.A. and said he was going to be successful. And we had a great time,” Amato told The New York Post in 2017. “The day after he moved in I gave him the script to 10 Things I Hate About You, written by a friend. Which was kind of a lucky thing.”
While Ledger was new to Hollywood during his time with Lisa, she already had an established career with movie credits dating back to the late 1980s. Lisa continued to act after her 1998 split from Ledger, including starring in the Dinotopia TV series and lending her voice to Biker Mice from Mars.
Heather Graham
Former Twin Peaks star Graham told Australia’s TODAY in 2023 she still thought of her time with Ledger, which occurred between 2000 and 2001, as a very “special” period in her life.
“[Heath] really brought so much joy into my life,” she recalled. “He was a very soulful person. Obviously, he was very talented. I think he’s a magical person and I feel lucky to have known him.”
Graham said she still felt “really sad” about Ledger’s death, especially since she knew he would have “done a lot more amazing stuff” if he’d lived.
In 2021, Graham found a vintage photograph of herself with Ledger from their relationship and subsequently shared it via her Instagram.
“Going through my photos I found these. Just remembering this time. Heath Ledger was such a special person,” she captioned the post.
Christina Cauchi
Ledger was linked to model Cauchi between 2000 and 2002 where he was emerging as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
In the 2017 documentary I Am Heath Ledger, Cauchi spoke fondly about her time with Ledger. She remembered that her ex-boyfriend constantly brought a camera along when they went out together.
“There were always cameras around … That’s the only way I think of him — with the camera in the hand,” Cauchi recalled.
Naomi Watts
The duo fell in love after starring in 2003’s historical epic Ned Kelly, in which Ledger had the title role as a notorious outlaw and Watts played his love interest, Julia Cook. Ledger and Watts were together from August 2002 to May 2004.
Watts told More Magazine in 2011 that the time she spent with Ledger was a whirlwind of fun and romance.
“We had a beautiful relationship, only a couple of years, but he was a man who was completely full of joy, and there was a lot of laughing and affection. He was really a very special soul,” she said at the time.
The two-time Academy Award nominee marked the tenth anniversary of Ledger’s death in January 2018 by telling The Associated Press that she was still in awe of her ex-boyfriend’s “incredible work.”
“[He was] a powerful artist who contributed to our industry in such a major way,” Watts said. “I’ll never forget his work and who he was, his spirit. He’s left a big mark on me and so many of my friends, who we all hung out together.”
She went on, “It’s so sad that he didn’t reach his full potential. I mean, he did [reach it]. He did so much but his life was just too short … He has left a fantastic legacy.”
Michelle Williams
Ledger worked with Williams on the acclaimed 2005 Western romantic drama Brokeback Mountain, in which they played a married couple. The duo got together off screen as well and later welcomed daughter Matilda in October 2005.
The actor was notoriously guarded about his personal life, but did open up to Entertainment Weekly in 2005 about how love blossomed thanks in part to his and Williams’ close quarters on the Brokeback Mountain set.
“It was really beautiful. Yeah it was very romantic,” he recalled. “We were suddenly thrown into a little husband-wife situation. Our bed, honestly, was no bigger than that little round table there. My legs would hang off this far at the end. But it was worth it. And it was comfortable, somehow.”
Ledger continued, “It was sweet. It was very, very sweet. I could have stayed like that for years. It was very, very, very sweet.”
Michelle’s father, Larry Williams, revealed to The Daily Telegraph in September 2007 that the actress had split from Ledger and was enduring a “hugely difficult” time. Shortly after Ledger’s death in January 2008, Michelle and daughter Matilda were forced to move out of their New York City apartment to rural upstate New York because of media intrusion.
The Dawson’s Creek star has spoken fondly of Ledger when reflecting on his life over the years, including telling Vogue in September 2009 how their daughter Matilda keeps the actor’s memory alive.
“Every time I really miss him and wonder where he’s gone, I just look at her,” Williams said at the time. “I can talk about grief, because that’s mine, about single parenting, about trying to balance work and kids. But what I don’t have to talk about is what happened between Heath and me in our relationship. Brokeback Mountain was an unrepeatable moment in time, a very charmed time in my life. I was in love. I was in a movie I was proud to be a part of and with a beautiful, brand new baby. Everything was good in that moment.”
Gemma Ward
Ledger started dating Australian model and actress Ward mere weeks before his death. The couple reportedly spent Christmas together in Perth in 2007, but Ledger suffered a fatal overdose shortly after returning home to New York City in January 2008.
In a 2011 Vogue profile, Ward said that her lasting memory of Ledger is that he was a “devoted father” to his daughter Matilda.
“There was no one like him — and no one will ever be like him,” she reflected. “I’m just so grateful I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him.”
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