[SantaGanstag]

HEATH Ledger's ex-fiancee Michelle Williams is now making a tearful dash from Sweden to New York with their two-year-old daughter Matilda after learning of the Aussie actor's shocking death.

Williams, who split with Ledger last September, was in the Nordic country filming her new*movie Mammoth.

The pair met on the set of Ang Lee's 2005 cowboy epic Brokeback Mountain - for which Ledger scored an Oscar nomination - and*he was said to be gutted when the relationship broke down.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper claimed the 28-year-old began dabbling in drugs.

"Heath totally wanted to be on his own these past few months since he and Michelle split in September," one insider was quoted as saying.

"He adored his daughter Matilda and when Michelle called it quits he missed Matilda so much that he was thrown into a deep, dark depression.

"Heath was living in New York to be close to his daughter. But he hardly ever ventured out any more.

"His close friend and Brokeback co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal has been worried about him for months. And he knew Heath was sinking further into a depression. Jake is Matilda's godfather, and he and Heath had become really close since they did the film Brokeback together. ??"Michelle will be devastated by the news because she always hoped*... they could manage to work out their relationship for the sake of their daughter. ??"Now poor little Matty is left without a father. "

Today family members gathered at his mother's house in the leafy southern Perth suburb of Applecross as they struggled to come to terms with their loss.

"We, Heath's family, can confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda,'' his father Kim said.

They insisted the star did not commit suicide - despite his naked body being found with sleeping pills scattered nearby.

Ledger*started taking the pills after completing I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of singer Bob Dylan.

He said late last year he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker in the newest Batman flick The Dark Knight. He called the character a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy".

"I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger said.

"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour.

Ledger was discovered naked and unconscious by his masseuse and housekeeper when they could not stir him from his bedroom. Sleeping pills were strewn around the bed and there was a bottle next to his body.

They called paramedics about 3.26pm New York time. Ambulance crews were unable to revive the star and he was pronounced dead at the scene just*nine minutes later.

Bottles of Diazepam and Alprazolam, both anti-anxiety drugs prescribed in his name, were also found in the house, according to law enforcement sources.

"Yes pills were found around the body," a New York Police Department spokesman said.

The medical examiner's office*will perform*an autopsy tomorrow, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

NYPD Detectives and the medical examiner would conduct a thorough investigation -*but Ledger's death is not believed to be suspicious.

"As of right now there does not appear to be any criminality at all," the spokesman said.

The news has sent shockwaves around the world.

Ledger first came to prominence by acting as a homosexual athlete in little-known Australian television series Sweat in 1996.

A 19-year-old Ledger left Sydney for Hollywood, where his standout talent was spotted by Mel Gibson when auditioning 500 actors for the role of his son in The Patriot. The casting wa Ledger's first big-time break and led to his leading role in A Knight's Tale.

This month Ledger had been working on his latest movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam, which was due to be released next year.

One of Ledger's most critically acclaimed roles was as a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian movie Candy, in which he starred with Australian Abbie Cornish.

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