Julia Stiles asked Michelle Williams for permission before dedicating her Dancing with the Stars dance to Heath Ledger. Stiles said she checked with Williams, Ledger’s former partner and the mother of his daughter, Matilda, asking “if this was okay.” Williams said yes.
Stiles, 45, dedicated her October 20 performance to her late 10 Things I Hate About You costar. She and professional partner Ezra Sosa danced a contemporary routine to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” the song Ledger’s Patrick Verona sings to her character, Kat Stratford, in the 1999 film.
Preparing the tribute brought back memories that overwhelmed Stiles during rehearsals. “I was like bawling the first day of rehearsals because of all the nostalgia and the memories,” she said. “But also because I was… bumping up against something.”
She credited Sosa with recognizing what she was struggling with and rethinking their approach. “He clocked it and he changed the concept or the way that we thought about the dance in a way that really opened me up, and I’m forever grateful,” Stiles said. She described the experience as “transformative.”
The routine ended with 5 of their film castmates joining her onstage: Gabrielle Union, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Keegan, Susan May Pratt and Larisa Oleynik.
Williams and Ledger met while making Brokeback Mountain and were together from 2004 until 2007. Their daughter, Matilda, is now 20. Ledger died in 2008 at 28 from an accidental prescription drug overdose.