"She's Just Like Her Daddy"Heath Ledger’s Mother and Sister Rave About His 9-Year-Old Daughter Matilda

Updated: Aug 19, 2015 11:14 am

By Allison Cacich

It's been seven years since Heath Ledger passed away from an accidental drug overdose, but along with his extensive film legacy, the 28-year-old also left behind a daughter, now nine, with ex Michelle Williams.

At the annual Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship Award dinner in LA, the actor's mom Sally and sister Kate opened up about Matilda who was just two when her famous father died.

Matilda, Sally, Kate and Heath (inset).

"Matilda is gorgeous and very much like her daddy in many ways," Kate, who recently spent time with the elementary-schooler in Brooklyn, N.Y., told the Daily Telegraph.

She added that she's been telling Matilda stories of The Dark Knight star now that "she is getting old enough to understand."

Scroll down to see more celebrity kids who lost their parents at a young age.

1 of 9

Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, 18: The Daughter of Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates

Age When Parents Passed: 16 months (Michael); 4 (Paula)

How Parents Passed Away: ruled a suicide; heroin overdose

2 of 9

Matilda, 9: The Daughter of Heath Ledger

Mom: Michelle Williams [pictured]

Age When Dad Passed Away: 2

How Parent Passed Away: accidental overdose on prescription drugs in January 2008.

“Matilda is indeed very much like her dad — she has long limbs and similar features,” Heath's mom, Sally, told Australian magazine New Idea in 2013. “However, she also possesses the beauty of her mamma — lucky girl.”

3 of 9

Christopher Wallace Jr., 18, & T'yanna Wallace, 21: The Kids of Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace)

Mom: Faith Evans [pictured]; Jan Jackson

Age When Dad Passed Away: 4 months; 3

How Parent Passed Away: drive-by shooting in March 1997.

Christopher — who played the younger version of his father in the 2009 biopic Notorious and graduated high school last May — to BET in 2011: "I definitely would not be able to continue my dad’s rapping legacy because I’m not on that level yet — I’m not that good. I rap, I joke around, but I’m not serious about it. I didn't want people to be like, 'Like CJ, little Biggie.' I’d rather them be like, 'CJ the actor made his own movie, directed his own film, and won the Oscar,' stuff like that."

T'yanna — a Penn State college student who now owns Notoriouss Clothing — to New York's Hot 97 radio station in 2012: "I don't personally have memories [of him]. But oh my gosh, I can't count the times my mom has told me stuff, Faith [Evans] is telling me stuff… any member of Junior M.A.F.I.A., my grandma, it's just like they have talked about him enough over time that I can basically feel like I know the stories."

4 of 9

Birgen, 23: The Daughter of Phil Hartman

Mom: Brynn Omdahl

Age When Dad Passed Away: 7

How Parent Passed Away: Shot to death by wife on May 28, 1998.

5 of 9

Frances Bean, 22: The Daughter of Kurt Cobain (Nirvana frontman)

Mom: Courtney Love

Age When Dad Passed Away: 20 Months

How Parent Passed Away: suicide by gunshot in April 1994.

After musician Lana Del Rey told The Guardian, “I wish I was dead already,” Frances — now a model and artist — took offense to those comments and tweeted to her, “@LanaDelRey the death of young musicians isn't something to romanticize … I'll never know my father because he died young & it becomes a desirable feat because ppl like u think it's "cool" … Well, it's f—— not. Embrace life, because u only get one life. The ppl u mentioned wasted that life.Don't be 1 of those ppl."

6 of 9

Dannielynn, 8: The Daughter of Anna Nicole Smith

Dad: Larry Birkhead [pictured]

Age When Mom Passed Away: 5 months

How Parent Passed Away: drug overdose in February 2007. (Dannielynn's half-brother, Daniel, also died that same year at age 20. He passed on Sept. 10, 2006 while visiting his mom and newborn sister in the Bahamas. She was only three-days-old.)

“I have to be both parents,” Larry says about the pre-teen, who's now a model just like her mama. “Some days she gets sad her mom's no longer here, but other days she’s very accepting and will say, ‘I have an angel for a mom.’”

7 of 9

Bindi, 16, and Robert, 11: The Kids of Steve Irwin aka ‘The Crocodile Hunter’

Mom: Terri Irwin

Age When Dad Passed Away: 8; 2

How Parent Passed Away: stingray accident in September 2006. The creature’s tail spine pierced his heart.

"I remember after we lost Dad, so many adults came up to me and said, 'Honey, time heals all wounds,” Bindi told Australian publication Who earlier this year. “That is the biggest lie you will ever hear. It doesn't. That part of you is gone forever.

“That kind of sadness never goes away. It's like losing a piece of your heart that you never get back," says the teen, who’s continuing her father’s legacy and has partnered with animal theme park Sea World.

8 of 9

Meadow Walker, 16: The Daughter of Paul Walker

Mom: Rebecca Soteros

Age When Dad Passed Away: 15

How Parent Passed Away: car accident in November 2013.

“I would imagine that even when I’m 40 and looking at her, I’ll still be going, I’m a dad!” Paul told CosmoGirl about his then five-year-old in 2003. “It’s just pretty wild. I don’t think it’s anything you get fully used to, because I don’t think anybody thinks that they’re truly prepared or ready for that.”

9 of 9

Prince, 18, Paris, 17, and Prince II “Blanket,” 13: The Kids of Michael Jackson

Mom: Debbie Rowe (Prince and Paris); Mother unknown (Blanket)

Age When Dad Passed Away: 12; 11; 7

How Parent Passed Away: cardiac arrest in June 2009.

The kids opened up about their late father in the 2013 documentary Remembering Our Michael:

Prince: “It took me till I was like six years old to learn that his name was Michael Jackson, because he was always daddy to me. He wanted us to always be, like, what we wanted to be, just be greater at it than anybody else has ever been.”

Paris: “He promised he would teach me how to moonwalk — never got around to it. I really hope his legacy lives on forever. I will never forget him ever. He was amazing.”

Blanket: “Sometimes I would go in his room and watch videos of him dancing.”