Australian supermodel Gemma Ward has opened up for the first time on how Heath Ledger’s death affected her. Speaking in an interview with Sunday Telegraphy for the international stage debut of “The Ugly One” featuring the Aussie model, Ward clarified why she has been invisible for months and has been staying away from the limelight.

"I've taken a break from the media spotlight for the last few years and it was something spurred by Heath's death," Ms Ward was quoted as saying by the Sunday Telegraph, according to NineMSN.

Quoting Ward, the newspaper noted that the model hooked up with Ledger in November 2007, two months before he was found dead in his apartment in New York. Ward, who was 20 at the time, said she was also living in New York with her mother when she first met the star of “The Dark Night”.

Both come from Perth, Australia, Ledger and Ward bonded because she said they were both going through some rough times at the time they met at the Big Apple.

Ward added that she was ‘grateful’ to meet the late actor, reiterating that “there was no one like him — and no one will ever be like him" , according to NineMSN

The Australian model clarified that though she did not intend to get serious with Ledger in the beginning, but their friendship grew more intimately eventually. She told the newspaper that they were together at Christmas before his death, hanging around at their hometown of Perth and meeting and spending time with their respective families.

Ward is now back in Australia and will stay there in the next three months for the Perth Theatre Company's production of The Ugly One.