The Celebrity Truth

A funeral service for Australian actor Heath Ledger was held in his home town of Perth on Saturday (February 9 – Australian time) with his father Kim telling the media that he considered his family "luckier than most" for the international outpouring of grief.

A ceremony for more than 600 people, including Ledger’s former fiance Michelle Williams, Gemma Ward and Cate Blanchett, was held at Penhros College, a private girls school south of Perth, Western Australia.

Matilda, Ledger’s 2-year-old daughter with Williams, was not in attendance.

Mr. Ledger spoke to the waiting media scrum saying, "I know that a lot of you have travelled from all around the world to take footage of as much as you can of our ceremony for Heath.  I just ask you if you wouldn’t mind to respect our privacy.

"The funeral will be very, very private. There will only be 10 people there, immediate family and nobody else."

"It’s a pretty sad time and we’re finding it difficult to cope by ourselves, let alone cope with everybody around the world.

Mr Ledger continued, "Having said that we do really appreciate the outpouring and the emotional support from all over the world, which, suffice to say, we’re luckier than most families, most families that are in our position, our grieving position, don’t have that kind of support.

"So thank you all very much. That’s all I’ve got to say."

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Photo courtesy of Focus Features.

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