Naomi Watts pays poignant tribute to Heath Ledger

[DontMindMe]

Tearful Naomi Watts paid a poignant tribute to her tragic former lover Heath Ledger last night in her first public appearance since the actor’s untimely death last month.

The Hollywood actress was emotional during a special tribute to Ledger at Tropfest in The Domain.

The ‘Eastern Promises’ star put on a brave face to play judge and presenter at the annual festival - but lost her composure when the video tribute to Ledger was aired, according to Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The tribute, put together by film director John Polson, featured clips from all of Ledger’s movies - including Brokeback Mountain and Candy and showed him presenting an award at Tropfest while music played in the background.

“The Australian film industry lost someone very special a few weeks ago. He was gentle and had a humble spirit. We send our deepest regrets to his family. He’s an incredible loss,” Polson said last night.

Naomi, 39, who had earlier flown into Sydney with her baby son Alexander - canceled her appearances at the Sundance Film Festival after hearing of Ledger’s death. She had dated Ledger for two years after they met on set of the 2003 film Ned Kelly - which also starred Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush.

Watts was last night joined on the red carpet by fellow celebrity judges Geoffrey Rush, director Gillian Armstrong, Love My Way’s Claudia Karvan, Jindabyne director Ray Lawrence and festival creator Polson.

“He is one of our brothers, he is one of our clan,” Rush said of Ledger.

“We are going to miss him.”

Pop Hustle: Naomi Watts pays poignant tribute to Heath Ledger

[sparkly]

That's beautiful.

[Raspberry gashes]

I just looked up why Naomi and Heath split because I had forgotten they even dated.

Sources say that Naomi Watts became so disgusted with boyfriend Heath Ledger’s roving eye that she ended their romance. On a recent night out, Watts was reportedly embarrassed to find Ledger flirting openly with actress Scarlett Johansson. Ledger, 25, and Johansson, 19, were reportedly flirting and talking at a Los Angeles nightclub when Watts found them and dragged Ledger away. Johannson reportedly burst into giggles, disgusting Watts.

The on-again-off-again pair started dating in September 2002 after meeting on the set of their movie Ned Kelly. They broke up for a month one year later citing "busy work schedules" as the cause, but rekindled their romance shortly thereafter -- a move that Watts has since referred to as a "mistake." She said he was "immature" and "unruly" and made her look "stupid for being with him." They denied reports of a break-up last month, but it has officially been declared that their romance is indeed over. In fact, Ledger was allegedly spotted having a hot and heavy make-out session with Winona Ryder at a recent party. When told of his antics with Ryder, Watts said of Ledger, "I don’t care what he does anymore."

Maybe she should stick to dating someone her own age if she doesn’t want a partier. With a ten-year age difference between the two of them – he is 25 and she is 35 – they don’t seem to want the same things. She is looking to get married and start a family. It seems like the only think Heath is after is a good time.

Naomi Watts Dismisses Heath Ledger

[aabbcc]

Maybe she should stick to dating someone her own age if she doesn’t want a partier. With a ten-year age difference between the two of them – he is 25 and she is 35 – they don’t seem to want the same things.

Many of the women Heath dated were older than him. Personally, I thought that was great. He didn't seem to care about age very much.