Michelle Williams has paid tribute to her former partner Heath Ledger as "so special"

She has now spoken candidly about the actor and her approach to motherhood during an appearance on the 'Armchair Expert' with Dax Shepard podcast, saying about his legacy: "(He was) so special, so special. Thank God there's Matilda."

Michelle also became emotional as Dax, 49, recalled his own connection to 'Brokeback Mountain' star Heath.

He said: "I feel obligated to say that I knew him a little bit when he was getting sober, and I don't know that I've ever fallen in love with somebody so quickly.

"This is one of the most special boys I've ever met, and I can feel the weight of the world on him in a very special way that kind of broke my heart. I was very, very sad, and I thought he was just so special."

Michelle and Heath met while filming Ang Lee's 2005 drama 'Brokeback Mountain', which earned widespread acclaim and multiple Academy Awards.

During the promotion of the film, the couple learned they were expecting their first child and welcomed Matilda in October 2005.

Speaking on the podcast, Michelle said: "We had a baby. But I suppose maybe it's a good thing about being young is that you don't have so much life experience that you can contextualise things.

"So you're really just going with the flow."

Michelle, who now has three more children with her partner, 46-year-old director Thomas Kail, spoke about the challenges of balancing parenthood with her career.

"Kids are such great life checkers," she said, adding: "They force you to put your best self in front of them.

"You can't abdicate your life and your work and your own desires, but you do have to put them in check and figure out which master you're going to serve."

Michelle went on: "You can't be equally good at [everything] at the exact same time, and you have to allow for that give and take, but then also replenish the other things.

"If you have a big period of being at home, you need to go back to what you've left unattended and put some light over there.

"So I think it's just this constant back and forth, but making sure that you don't leave one of them unattended for too long."