Heath Ledger’s daughter Matilda Rose Ledger looks shockingly like her late father in rare new photos of the 19-year-old.
Spotted in New York City, the teen looked chic and effortless in a green puffer jacket, baggy jeans, and red flats with a matching red handbag.
She was also seen laughing and drinking coffee with a friend as the pair strolled through the city.
Though Matilda’s mother is Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams, she looks most strikingly like Heath, who died when she was just two years old in 2008.
She has the iconic actor’s distinctive almond-shaped eyes and dirty blonde hair, and – according to her grandfather Kim Ledger – ‘She’s got an enormous number of his mannerisms.’
Kim went on to Channel Ten’s The Project in a past interview, saying: ‘She’s very inquisitive, she’s got his energy, cause Heath never slept from when he was two and Matilda’s like that.
‘I mean, she’s just got this ball of energy and she radiates this little aura, Heath was kind of like that. So it’s fabulous really.’
Matilda, who was born on October 28, 2005, has primarily grown up out of the public eye, as Michelle decided to give her daughter as ‘normal’ a life as possible following Heath’s accidental prescription drug overdose.
The Dark Knight actor died aged 28 in Janury 2008 after splitting amicably with Michelle in late 2007 after the pair were together for three years. The couple first met on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2004.
Despite only being a toddler when her father died, Heath was enamoured with fatherhood, telling InTouch in December 2005: ‘Matilda is adorable, and beautifully observant and wise. Michelle and I love her so much. Becoming a father exceeds all my expectations. It’s the most remarkable experience I’ve ever had — it’s marvelous.’
Michelle told the New York Post in June 2016 that after Heath’s death, she moved her daughter to upstate New York state to escape the media frenzy: ‘We moved – we left Brooklyn and lived in the country for six years because it was an intolerable state of existence.’
The mother-daughter duo eventually moved back to Brooklyn, and Michelle married theatre director Thomas Kail in 2020, going on to welcome a baby boy later that year and a second child in 2022, giving Matilda two half-siblings.
Despite her father’s tragic death, his family has remained involved Matilda’s life.
Kate Ledger, Heath’s sister, told People Magazine in 2017: ‘When [Matilda] picks up her pencil, it reminds me of Heath; when she walks, it reminds me of Heath; when she gets on her skateboard, it reminds me of Heath.’
She continued: ‘I tell her about her daddy every time we see each other. I tell her little stories of him growing up and how he used to chase me with the cricket bat.’
Kate also had nothing but praise for Michelle’s parenting of Matilda, saying: ‘I think that she provides such a wonderful environment for Matilda to grow up in, especially in the sort of industry that she’s in.’
In July 2018, Michelle told Vanity Fair that she worked hard to prioritise her daughter throughout her childhood, saying: ‘She hasn’t had her routine disrupted and hasn’t missed class.’
She also revealed she always left her summers open to spend time with her children: ‘[I’m] less scheduled, less regulated, less hustle, less go go go. I parent to let Matilda feel free to be herself.’
While it remains unclear if Matilda will follow in her father’s footsteps and go into show business, she’ll certainly be well taken care of as she is the sole beneficiary of Heath’s multi-million dollar estate.
Kim Ledger told People in 2008: ‘Our family has gifted everything to Matilda. That was the plan from the moment my boy passed away. There was never any question about the fact that Heath’s estate would go to Matilda. Never a question. We are very close to Michelle and Matilda.’
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