Heath Ledger’s Death Taking Toll on Jake Gyllenhaal

Posted on Jan 30 2008 - 9:58am by Angela | 1 comments

Friends and family of Heath Ledger have spent the last week mourning the death of their beloved friend, but one of Heath's closest friends is taking the news particularly hard.

Many people were wondering why Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath's good friend and godfather of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda, hadn't released a statement in regards to the death.

Heath Ledger/ Jake GyllenhaalBut, as many probably expected, Jake is taking the news of his friend's passing "harder than most" and simply can't bring himself to face the public at this time.

Much like Heath's former fiancée Michelle Williams, Gyllenhaal - who costarred with Heath in the hit movie Brokeback Mountain - is taking the time to grieve Heath's tragic death before addressing the public in any way.

Sources on the set of Jake's new movie, Brothers, told PEOPLE that the actor is taking the news extremely hard.

"This has had a strong personal affect on [Jake]," says the source, indicating that Jake left the set immediately after finding out his friend had passed away. The source also states that Jake returned to the set on Thursday to shoot an additional scene but was unfocused and distraught the entire time.

"He was there, but he wasn't with us. It was obviously a major trauma," says the movie source. "These guys were very close. [Jake] was sitting in the director's chair staring off into space."

Jake has taken a personal leave from work to grieve the death of his friend.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Jake, Michelle and the rest of Heath's family and friends.