Here's something you (and I) weren't expecting: Michelle Williams (opens in new tab) is married! According to an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair (opens in new tab), Williams has quietly married musician Phil Elverum in a secret ceremony in the Adirondacks.
The actress—who is notoriously private about her personal life—shared the news in the most Michelle Williams way possible: Two weeks after telling Vanity Fair that she wouldn't be revealing any information about her new partner (because "the Internet's an asshole"), she had a change of heart in hopes of "[taking] some heat and confusion” out of the situation when it inevitably leaked.
"I never gave up on love," Williams says of the 10 years that have passed since Heath Ledger's tragic death (opens in new tab). Williams and the late actor share one daughter together, Matilda, who is now entering seventh grade. "I always say to Matilda, ‘Your dad loved me before anybody thought I was talented, or pretty, or had nice clothes,'" she recalls.
"Obviously I've never once in my life talked about a relationship, but Phil isn’t anyone else. And that’s worth something," says Williams. "Ultimately the way he loves me is the way I want to live my life on the whole. I work to be free inside of the moment. I parent to let Matilda feel free to be herself, and I am finally loved by someone who makes me feel free." Elverum—who shares Williams under-the-radar vibe—is no stranger to tragedy. In 2016, the musician lost his wife and the mother of their 18-month-old daughter to stage-4 pancreatic cancer.
Although Williams' decision to speak freely about her personal life wasn't easy, she says she hopes her openness might inspire others. "What if somebody who has always journeyed in this way, who has struggled as much as I struggled, and looked as much as I looked, finds something that helps them?" she explains.
"Don’t settle for something that feels like a prison, or is hard, or hurts you,” the actress adds. “If it doesn’t feel like love, it’s not love.”
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