Michelle Williams, 41, is a five-time Oscar nominee and a proud mom of three.
In May 2022, during an interview with Variety, Williams revealed that she was expecting her third child, and second with husband Thomas Kail, a theater director known for being at the helm of "Hamilton."
“As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you,” she said at the time. “It’s exciting to discover that something you want again and again, is available one more time. That good fortune is not lost on me or my family.”
Williams has since welcomed her child. However, she has yet to reveal her baby's name.
The "Manchester by the Sea" actor also shares her son Hart with Kail, and her daughter Matilda with the late actor Heath Ledger.
Despite an illustrious career — she garnered yet another acting nomination in 2023 — Williams said she's always put her family before her roles.
“I consider myself a mother first and an actress second and so the person I most want to thank is my daughter, my little girl, whose bravery and exuberance is the example that I take with me in my work and in my life,” she said during her acceptance speech at the 2012 Golden Globes when she won Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture for her role in "My Week With Marilyn."
In her latest Oscar-nominated role, Williams emulated director Steven Spielberg's late mother, Leah, for the semi-autobiographical film "The Fabelmans." She told Entertainment Weekly, "He let me get to know her through him. And the more that I knew her, the more I wanted to know her. She was just one of those people whose spirit fills a room. I miss her still. I can’t imagine how much he misses her."
Read on to learn more about Williams' kids.
Matilda Ledger
In Oct. 2005, Williams welcomed her first child, Matilda Ledger, with the late actor Heath Ledger. Williams was 25 at the time.
Their lives changed swiftly afterward. After three years of dating, the couple ended their relationship in 2007, per People. Then, in 2008, Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose, leaving Williams a single mom. Ledger's father later revealed Ledger's estate went to Matilda, per People.
Williams had the support of her friends and family during that time. In a May 2022 interview with Variety, Williams said "Succession" star Jeremy Strong moved in after Ledger's death.
“Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child’s broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach her through play and games and silliness,” she said. “(Matilda) didn’t grow up with her father, but she grew up with her Jeremy and we were changed by his ability to play as though his life depended upon it, because hers did.”
As Matilda grew up, Williams felt compelled to keep her daughter out of the spotlight.
“If you feel like people are watching you, it’s impossible to have an authentic experience of being alive,” Williams told Elle in 2016. “There’s a performative aspect and a guardedness, and that’s just death. I don’t know how to live like that, and I don’t know how to give a life to my child like that.”
A year later, in 2017, she described how cooking and cleaning was an "expression of love" for her daughter.
“I cook and clean a lot these days. I’m in a very domestic cycle and I happen to love it. I feel like this is a real expression of my love for my daughter," she told Today's Parent in 2017. "Not the only one, but an important one. As a parent, you want the kid to come back to a place where it seems like the walls are made of feather down.”
Matilda is now 17.
Hart Kail
In 2020, Williams married her second husband, Thomas Kail, after her one-year marriage to musician Phil Elverum came to an end in 2019.
The same year that she wed Kail, Williams gave birth to their son, Hart. While speaking to Variety in 2022, Williams recalled what it was like to welcome a child during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she said that "it was a reminder that life goes on."
“The world we brought a baby into is not the world we thought we were bringing a baby into, but the baby is ignorant of that. He experiences the unmitigated joy of discovery and the happiness of a loving home.”
“There’s nothing that makes you committed to a better world than raising a great kid,” she said. “It’s the ultimate creative act.”
Baby No. 3
In May 2022, Williams revealed that she was expecting another child with Kail. The "Fabelmans" actor told Variety that she was "totally joyous" that she was going to be a mom again.
“As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you," she said. "It’s exciting to discover that something you want again and again, is available one more time. That good fortune is not lost on me or my family.”
Williams' third child was born in 2022.