Actress Michelle Williams has ended her romance with director Spike Jonze, blaming their split on "impossible timing."
The Brokeback Mountain star began dating the filmmaker in July 2008, just months after Williams' ex-fiancé Heath Ledger died from an accidental drug overdose in January.
But in a candid new interview with fashion bible Vogue, Williams reveals she is no longer in a relationship with Jonze because she is still grieving the loss of Ledger.
She says, "The timing was impossible. I thought falling in love again was the only thing that was going to save me from the pain. This erroneous idea: it just makes things more complicated."
The actress admits she struggled to deal with the tragedy while getting used to being a single mom to her three-year-old daughter with Ledger, Matilda, in addition to juggling the pressures of a new love.
But she concedes she was overwhelmed by everything that had happened: "I obviously don't know how to do it."
And Williams confesses she came close to breaking down at the end of 2008 because the pain was too much.
She adds, "I was holding it together by a string and a paper clip in the fall and winter. I didn't know if I could keep it all together… You console yourself by saying it's all a deepening process. But it's weird.
"After the first year, the pain is less intense -- it's less immediate."
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