Supermodel Gemma Ward has opened up about her relationship with late actor Heath Ledger for the first time.
"There was no one like him - and no one will ever be like him,” she said of Heath.
After three years out of the spotlight, Ward will make her international stage debut in March in the Perth Theatre Company's production of The Ugly One.
“I've taken a break from the media spotlight for the last few years and it was something spurred by Heath's death,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.
“[Heath and I] first met in New York and we were both struggling with things that I won't get into, and we bonded over that.
“I kind of met him at first and said, ‘Listen, my mum's living with me right now and I'm kind of going through a hard time and I'm not interested in having a serious relationship with somebody right now’, and he was like, ‘You know, let's just be there for each other through these hard times we're both going through’.
“And we developed a relationship and we started seeing each other,” she added.
That was in November 2007 when Ward had just turned 20.
The two then spent Christmas together in their hometown of Perth before returning to New York where the actor died less than a month later.
“I'm just so grateful I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him,” Ward continued.
“The time we spent in Perth was incredible because we were both from Perth and it was also a time when it was beautiful in Perth and both our families were there and we met each other's families.
“We were able to not be in any kind of a spotlight and not have to be meeting with people or be hounded by press or anything. We lived in a magical kind of world where we weren't intruded upon.”
Ledger's devotion to his toddler daughter, Matilda, is something Ward will always remember.
“He was a devoted, devoted father," she said. “I'll never forget seeing him with Matilda and the way she looked at him and the way they were together . . . she was his whole life. He loved her so much.”
