They were the epitome of the cool Hollywood couple - ironic really as they had eschewed living in Tinseltown, swapping LA for New York - who met on set and enjoyed a whirlwind romance. But last week, Heath Ledger, 28, and 26- year-old Michelle Williams announced they had split after three years together.
Ahlan! looks at what went wrong for the seemingly perfect couple.
Too much too soon?
Well, insiders are whispering that part of Heath and Michelle's problem was that they got together and had a baby too quickly.
The pair met in 2004 on the set of Brokeback Mountain and their co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal - godfather to their daughter Matilda - and Anne Hathaway say there were sparks immediately.
"I remember being in rehearsal, and the two of them had googly eyes with each other," revealed Jake. While Anne insisted, "There were sparks immediately. It was adorable."
Matilda was born a year later in October 2005, putting pressure on their fledgling relationship, and turning the young couple into ‘mom and dad' rather than boyfriend and girlfriend.
The actress is renowned for appearing in small independent movies, while Heath's career is getting bigger, with his turn as The Joker in the upcoming The Dark Knight set to send him stellar. But the ‘blockbuster' route doesn't seem to impress Michelle, who, having learnt her lesson about juggling motherhood and her career whilst promoting Brokeback Mountain, was adamant, sources say, that the pair arrange their schedules around their daughter.
"We started promoting the movie (Brokeback) about three weeks after [Matilda] was born, which was too soon," Michelle said last year. "I'm just learning lessons now, like learning how to be a working mom."
He famously dated Naomi Watts for two years, but when the pair split in 2004 Heath hooked up with Michelle just one month later, giving him no time to get over his last relationship.
Seemingly unable to remain single for very long, Heath's list of past girlfriends, left little time in between to be single - he famously split from actress Heather Graham, only to start dating Naomi Watts just months later.
Reticent about speaking to the press about his private life, Heath is said by friends to have resented the constant questions about whether the pair would get married.
With engagement rumours surfacing every month, the pair were alleged to have applied for a marriage licence back in November last year, but the actor always denied they had secretly got engaged, despite Michelle sporting a rock on that finger in August 2005.
Michelle's dad speaks
The actress's dad Larry, who hit the headlines when it was revealed he faces being extradited to the US to face tax evasion charges, said, "We've known about their troubles for a while, but it's always a very difficult thing in life when these things happen. I know Heath and Michelle still care about each other deeply and are very committed to being great parents to their daughter. They are both very talented artists and they live with their hearts."
