14 DAY TRIAL // Before Christmas, while promoting her latest film, “Blue Valentine,” for which she’s already getting plenty of Oscar buzz, Michelle Williams sat down with Nightline and, for the first time since 2007, spoke of Heath Ledger’s death.
The footage that aired on ABC’s Nightline made her seem very open to talk about the tragedy, as well as about the year that followed it, a year that she seemed to miss because it took with him all the uncertainty.
Michelle also appeared understandably emotional but still very eager to break her silence and talk about Heath’s death, her life with him and how she coped with the pain of knowing he was gone forever.
In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, the actress explains that, while she did say all the things mentioned above, they were twisted out of context and given a meaning she did not mean them to have.
In other words, the actress says, she’s sorry she ever agreed to answer any question about Heath because they made her come across as if she was finally agreeing to “speak out” on his death – which she was – and is – not.
“When it comes to interviews, it all becomes rather tricky because I don’t want to say something without resonance but then I don’t want to go too far. I just had an experience with Nightline that got edited in such a way that seemed as if I did go too far,” Michelle tells The Daily Beast.
“It was a three-hour interview that was edited in such a way that was devastating to me. I mean, I am still such the-good-girl. I want everybody to like me. I want everybody to be happy. I want to please people,” she says.
It was this desire of hers to always please people that pushed her towards accepting to take questions about Heath, a thing she hadn’t done until then – and will probably never do again.
“So that desire in the moment overrode that ‘me’ that is on top of myself, that ‘me’ that is on top of a situation. Then they used those few quotes and the way they edited the piece to sell the interview, and it appeared as if I were breaking some kind of silence and sitting down with the express purpose to discuss something that is very private to me,” the actress says.
“So then I withdraw and I say, ‘OK, this subject is off limits if it is going to be convoluted and re-contextualized. I will close myself off as a torn paper might seal up its side or a streak of water stitch itself to silk.’ But then I sit down with you and feel compelled to talk about it. So it is a struggle,” she explains.
Out of respect, The Daily Beast doesn’t press her any further for details on that, Michelle has said all she wanted to say.
To see how part of the Nightline interview turned out (the part where she speaks about Heath and dealing with his death), please refer here.