Michelle Williams secretly marries musician Phil Elverum, says she did not give up on love after Heath Ledger's death
Congratulations are in order for Michelle Williams and her husband Phil Elverum as the two got secretly married earlier this month. The 37-year-old actress and her 40-year-old indie-rock musician and Mount Eerie frontman husband have been super private about their relationship, always. In fact, Williams' recent interview with Vanity Fair — where she spills the beans on finally tying the knot — is the only time she had made her relationship with Elverum public.
Clearly, that didn't strain the bond they shared as the two, after having met through a mutual friend, decided to take the plunge at a secret ceremony in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, according to Vanity Fair. Their wedding was witnessed by just a handful of closest friends and, of course, their respective daughters — Williams' 12-year-old Matilda, and Elverum's three-year-old Agathe.
As romantic as their story seems to be, both stars have lost their loved ones in the past. For Williams, it was Heath Ledger, whom she shares Matilda with. Ledger died at the age of 28 in 2008. Elverum, on the other hand, had lost his wife and daughter Agathe's mother, Geneviève Castrée to pancreatic cancer in 2016, when Agathe was just an infant.
On the brighter side, prior to the secret wedding, Elverum and his daughter had moved from Anacortes, Washington to live with Williams and Matilda in Brooklyn earlier this month. Speaking of the recent nuptials to Vanity Fair, Williams admitted: "I never gave up on love. I always say to Matilda, 'Your dad loved me before anybody thought I was talented, or pretty, or had nice clothes.'"
And about how private her stand is when it comes to her personal life, she said: "Obviously, I've never once in my life talked about a relationship. But Phil isn't anyone else. And that's worth something. 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."
Earlier in the year, she was romantically linked to New York-based financial consultant Andrew Youmans. But it could definitely be deduced that by March, Elverum was possibly in Williams' life, as her best friend and fellow 'Dawson's Creek' alum Busy Philipps had posted a photo on Instagram from the March For Our Lives rally in Los Angeles.
The photo shows her with her daughter alongside Elverum with his own daughter, holding a protest sign.