Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda reportedly wants to return to Australia

14 years after Heath Ledger’s death, his daughter Matilda is reportedly planning on returning to Australia.

It’s believed that the 16-year-old, who currently lives in New York with her mother Michelle Williams, stepfather Thomas Kail and one-year-old half-sibling, hasn’t been to Perth since his funeral in 2008.

Now, Matilda is said to be ‘determined to return to her roots’ and reconnect with her grandparents, Kim Ledger and Sally Bell, and aunty Kate Ledger.

“With COVID and WA's strict lockdowns, they haven't seen Matilda for more than two years,” an insider told Woman’s Day.

“Michelle is extremely protective of Matilda and has tried so hard to shelter her from public life, but she has accepted Matilda's wishes.”

Sources also claim that the teenager is “fully informed” about her dad’s drug overdose, and Michelle told her the entire story “as soon as she was old enough”.

“She knows how Heath died, and how much he loved her. Not to mention how much his family loves her and that she always has a home with them,” they said.

In an interview with The Project in 2015, Heath’s father Kim opened up about Matilda’s similarities to his late son and his desire for her to come to Perth when she’s old enough.

“She’s got an enormous number of his mannerisms,” he said. “She’s very inquisitive, she’s got his energy… 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.”

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Heath and Michelle began their relationship in 2004 after meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and Matilda was born in October the following year.

Jake Gyllenhaal, who also starred in the Oscar-winning romance film, is Matilda’s godfather, while her godmother is Michelle’s Dawson’s Creek co-star Busy Philipps.

The family of three lived together in Brooklyn until 2007 when Heath and Michelle broke up.

On January 22, 2008, The Dark Knight actor died from an accidental overdose on prescription drugs at the age of 28, and his $20 million fortune was left to Matilda.

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