Actress Michelle Williams opened up about her late former partner, Heath Ledger, during a rare and emotional appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast hosted by Dax Shepard.

The conversation offered listeners a glimpse into Williams’ reflections on Ledger, who passed away in 2008, and their shared past.

Shepard began by sharing his own admiration for Ledger, describing him as someone he “fell in love with so quickly.” He revealed, “This is one of the most special boys I’ve ever met. And I can feel the weight of the world on him in a very special way that kind of broke my heart… I thought he was just so special.”

Williams responded with a heartfelt agreement. “So special. So special,” she expressed. “Thank God there’s Matilda,” referencing the daughter she shares with Ledger.

The host continued reflecting on Ledger’s presence, saying, “There’s just a heart here that’s just leaking out everywhere.” Williams nodded to that sentiment, noting his “incredible sensitivity.”

The conversation moved to “Brokeback Mountain,” the 2005 film where Williams and Ledger first met. Williams observed how the cast, which also included Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, went on to become major stars.

“It’s fun to me that he obviously could see that in all of you and put this cast together,” she shared. Shepard agreed, pointing out how the ensemble may not have seemed obvious at the time. “You now take it for granted,” he said, “but it wasn’t an obvious cast.” Williams responded, “It’s a really beautiful way to look at it. I like that.”

Later in the conversation, Shepard asked about the dramatic shift in Williams’ life following the film’s success and her arrival at the Academy Awards. She noted how young and unprepared she was for such a rapid change.

“No, we had a baby,” she said. “But I suppose, maybe it’s a good thing about being young is that you don’t have so much life experience that you can contextualize things. So, you’re really just going with the flow.”

Her reflections were not just rooted in personal sentiment but also deeply intertwined with a pivotal moment in both her personal life and career.

Williams met Ledger in 2004 on the set of “Brokeback Mountain,” where she portrayed Alma, the wife of Ledger’s character, Ennis Del Mar. Her performance was widely praised, earning her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards.

Director Ang Lee said, “Her truthfulness in the part was just heartbreaking. This is two gay cowboys’ story, but your heart breaks for the woman, and that’s an effect of the fact she’s so great.”

The professional relationship between Williams and Ledger quickly turned personal. She became pregnant during the shoot, and their daughter, Matilda Rose Ledger, was born on October 28, 2005.

As “Brokeback Mountain” opened to critical acclaim, the couple settled into a home in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Their domestic life, often captured in candid photographs pushing Matilda in a stroller, drew intense media attention. Despite this, their relationship ended in 2007 after three years together.

In January 2008, five months after their separation, Ledger was found deceased in a rented SoHo apartment in Manhattan. Police discovered him lying naked on the floor near his bed, with prescription sleeping pills on a nearby table and other prescription medications in the bathroom.

There were no signs of foul play, no alcohol or illegal drugs found, and no note suggesting suicide. “There was no indication of a disturbance,” said NYPD spokesman Paul J. Browne.

In the final weeks of his life, Ledger had been working on “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and living with his dialect coach and friend, Gerry Grennell.

In a 2017 People cover story, Grennell recalled Ledger’s emotional state. “He missed his girl, he missed his family, he missed his little girl — he desperately wanted to see her and hold her and play with her,” he said. “He was desperately unhappy, desperately sad.”

The media reaction following Ledger’s death was swift and overwhelming. Williams and then two-year-old Matilda became the focus of what Vanity Fair described as a “morbid cult.”

Friend Daphne Javitch, who moved into their Brooklyn home after Ledger’s death, referred to it as “a kind of violence.” She explained, “To have that kind of attention, in such an aggressive way, around you and your child, when so much of it is coming from what truly is tragedy for a family…”

Williams eventually left Brooklyn, relocating to a rural area in upstate New York. “It was unmanageable to be stalked like that,” she shared. “Every moment of the day. So I left, in a desire to create a sane home environment.”

She also recounted a disturbing experience. “I’ll never forget going to the post office and seeing a sign hung on the wall for anyone with information about myself and my daughter, to please call this number.” She removed the sign herself.

The experience pushed her further into privacy. Actress Busy Philipps, a close friend and former “Dawson’s Creek” co-star, remarked, “She always had a difficult time with the idea of doing press and what to reveal. And then obviously when Heath passed away, and people had this insatiable interest in her and her child and their grief, it was overwhelming and incredibly painful.”

“When you’re a single parent, and that element of provider and protection is missing, it’s scary,” shared Williams in the same interview, shedding light on her struggles as a mother to her young girl.

In an earlier 2009 interview with The Guardian, Williams spoke about the period following Ledger’s death.

“I don’t want to make my life any more complicated,” she expressed. “I don’t want any more paparazzi outside my door. I want it to get better as my daughter grows up, not worse. If it makes a difference, if doing smaller movies means less of that stuff, then I’ll adjust my life so that we can still have a life in the city and not totally disappear. If not, I think they have laws in France — I’ll go there.”

In another 2016 interview, the “Shutter Island” star opened up about her experience as a single parent. “Talk about a learning process,” she said. “I think, God, what would I say about it? I feel really sensitive about it and certainly did not expect to still be dating at 36 with an 11-year-old. This is not what I imagined.”

She reflected further, “In all honesty, for pretty much everything else, I feel like I’m a believer in not fighting circumstances, accepting where you are and where you’ve been. In pretty much all senses but one, I would be able to go totally down that line of thinking were it not for Matilda not having her dad.”

Williams’ rare comments on “Armchair Expert” offered a measured and personal reflection on Heath Ledger’s memory and the life they briefly shared.