Michelle Williamsalways strives to ensure her 12-year-old daughter Matilda Rose knows what a great manHeath Ledgerwas before his untimely death.

The actress, 37, opens up about motherhood and keeping Ledger’s memory alive in a new interview forVanity Fair— in which she also reveals she recentlysecretly married musician Phil Elverum.

“I always say to Matilda, ‘Your dad loved me before anybody thought I was talented, or pretty, or had nice clothes,’ ” Williams revealed.

Ledger diedin New York City in 2008 after taking afatal mix of prescription drugs.Matilda was only 2 years old.

The actor and Williams had dated for three years after meeting on the set of their 2005 filmBrokeback Mountain,though had separated five months earlier.

“When you’re a single parent, and that element of provider and protection is missing, it’s scary,” Williams said of raising their daughter after Ledger’s death.

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The mother of one is most proud of being able to provide Matilda a stable environment as she grows up.

“She hasn’t had her routine disrupted and hasn’t missed class,” Williams said, adding that the ability to have summers as “undone time” with her daughter.

“[I’m] less scheduled, less regulated, less hustle, less go go go,” she explained.

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The indie singer’s daughter Agathe was just 1½ when his wife, Geneviève Castrée, died in their home in his hometown of Anacortes, Washington, in July 2015 after a battle with stage IV pancreatic cancer. She had been diagnosed when Agathe was just 4 months old.

“She died at home with me and her parents holding her, hopefully having reached some last minute peace,” Elverum wrote ona GoFundMe pageset up at the time, according toPitchfork.

Williams and Elverum got married in a secret ceremony in the Adirondacks with a few friends and their daughters present.

source: people.com