Cowboys' Romance Lassoes Love
Perth Confidential
Sunday, 18 September 2005

by Lawrie Masterson

(Used with generous permission from the author.
Thank you, Lawrie.)

A heavily pregnant Michelle Williams didn't need any prompting to tell our Hollywood correspondent Lawrie Masterson that she and partner Heath Ledger are expecting a baby girl in five weeks' time.

Together with Ledger at the Toronto Film Festival for the release of their film, Brokeback Mountain, she talked about how love helped them both get through the gruelling shoot with perfectionist director Ang Lee at the helm. The movie and Ledger's performance were greeted with enthusiastic acclaim by critics and audience alike.

Williams, who turned 25 earlier this month, and 26-year-old Ledger were very much together in Toronto, Williams' last trip away from their home in Brooklyn, New York, before her advancing pregnancy prevents her flying. They stood hand in hand on stage at Toronto's beautiful old Elgin Theatre as the film was introduced and remained close at a post-screening party.

In Brokeback Mountain, they play husband and wife Ennis and Alma Del Mar, but their marriage is ripped apart after she discovers his on-going affair with another man, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal).

"It's strange to watch the film now because it means so much more to me," Williams says. "I met my husband there, the seed of my daughter was born there – it's just really, really powerful.

"But I also feel – and Heath and I were just talking about this the other night – that if it hadn't been there we would have met some other way, some other how. It was going to happen."

Williams, who says she's expecting "a little Australian", described Ledger as "incredibly protective".

And, before anyone jumps to conclusions, she says she refers to him as her "husband" because "boyfriend" isn't quite right and "partner" sounds a little stale.

They are engaged, but have not married yet.

"I had a few fantasies about a husband and a wedding when I was a little girl, but I'm really happy with things just the way they are right now," she says.

Williams has been to Perth and Sydney with Ledger.

"We went to Perth last Christmas and it felt like the last city at the end of the world," she said. "It's beautiful but it's just so remote."

Perhaps a final word on her relationship with Ledger and the impending birth of their child should go to Gyllenhaal, the 24-year-old American actor who plays the lover who breaks up their screen marriage.

"The real joke is that Heath and I made love and a baby was made," he quipped. "I don't care what they say – I'm indirectly a godfather".