Long-distance love, indeed. In an interview with Us Weekly at the Heath Ledger Scholarship Dinner in Hollywood Hills, Calif. on Wednesday, June 12, the late actor's father, Kim, explained how his Australia-based family remains close to 7-year-old Matilda, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her mom, actress Michelle Williams. (Heath and Williams, 32, had a four-year relationship and welcomed Matilda in 2005; she was 2-years-old when her father died of an overdose in 2008).
Kim said that Heath's older sister Kate's 9-year-old twins, Rori and Scarlett, enjoy Skyping with their cousin. "The kids Skype backwards and forwards and they play act on there," he told Us Weekly. "The twins Skype her all the time."
Kim, a race-car driver and mining engineer, said his granddaughter continues to look — and act — like Heath, who died at age 28.
"Mummy keeps her out of the limelight but she sings beautifully and dances to herself well," he told Us. "She looks a lot like him. She's definitely got a lot of her dad's physical characteristics, his floppy movements and his body attitude, but she's a gorgeous little girl."
Kim was on hand last night to deliver a speech about the Heath Ledger Scholarship, which provides talented Australian actors or actresses in the early stages of their careers the chance to travel to the U.S. in pursuit of further training and international opportunities. Reflecting on his son's successful film career, Kim told Us that he's still amazed at how far his son made it in Hollywood.
He realized Heath had caught the acting bug in his teens. "I thought there was something special about him at that point, but everybody thinks there's something special about their children and so they should," Kim recalled.
