Michelle Williams: Interview out of context

Michelle Williams says a December interview with ABC News' "Nightline" was "edited in such a way that was devastating to me."

Speaking with the website The Daily Beast, Williams said that her Dec. 21 interview with the late-night news show "got edited in such a way that seemed as if I did go too far" in discussing her feelings about the death of Heath Ledger, the father of her 5-year-old daughter, Matilda. The "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Dark Knight" star died in 2008 from an accidental overdose of prescription medications.

Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Williams if she understands why people are curious about Ledger's tragic death. "Do I understand? Sure, yeah. I do. I relate to it," the actress responded.

Later, McFadden notes that Williams read "The Year of Magical Thinking," Joan Didion's 2005 memoir of her year following the death of husband John Gregory Dunne. "Yeah. In a strange way, I miss that year," Williams said. "Because all those possibilities that existed then - are gone. It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush. It was a year of very magical thinking and in some ways I'm sad to be moving further and further away from it."

Williams now says "Nightline" "used those quotes and the way they edited the piece to sell the interview," adding that "it appeared as if I were breaking some kind of silence and sitting down with the express purpose to discuss something that is very private to me."

A representative for Williams told "Access Hollywood" that the actress was not asked any "direct questions" about Ledger.

"She did not talk about Heath in the 'Nightline' piece," the rep said. "They edited the piece together to make it sound like she was answering specific questions."

An ABC News spokesman told Newsday, "The interview, like all our work, is done fairly and thoughtfully. She most certainly was asked questions about Heath Ledger, which she answered."