Julia Stiles finally reveals what she really thought of 10 Things I Hate About You costar Heath Ledger who died at 28

Julia Stiles has not often spoken on her late 10 Things I Hate About You costar Heath Ledger, who died in 2008.

But this week the veteran movie star shared what she really felt about the talented Australian actor.

And even though they had intense chemistry on the teen film from 1999, they were nothing more than friends, she cleared up.

Stiles remembered Ledger as being 'very kind and generous' towards her.

The 43-year-old actress recalled how 'comfortable' he made her feel in those early days of her Hollywood career.

She told E! News: 'He was amazing. He was such a bright light. He just walked into a room and lit it up.'

Julia added, 'He was very kind and generous to me, which you know, when you're an actress in your first leading role in a big studio movie, you need to feel comfortable with the other person.'

She then said that Heath 'was very generous that way.'

The Hustlers actress then added: 'The scene where I read the poem, I did not expect to start crying or tearing up or choking up, whatever. 

'It just happened because it was the movie was coming to an end, the production was coming to an end. And I think I was just so moved by the whole experience.'

The film - which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik and Andrew Keegan - is a modernization of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew'.

Julia previously noted that she was just 'happy and thrilled' that the movie had lived on more than 20 years later.

She said: 'I'm so happy and thrilled that people are still talking about that movie.

'It was really important to me as my first big role as an actress. It was a part that really spoke to me. 

'And so, to know that audiences are still talking about it 25 years later is what you dream of as a performer.'

Heath died in a New York City apartment on January 22, 2008, after accidentally overdosing following months of physical and mental exhaustion.

The Dark Knight actor died aged 28 after taking a fatal cocktail of drugs, leaving behind his daughter, who was two years old at the time.

Michelle Williams, who was in a relationship with Heath from 2004 to 2007 after meeting on set of Brokeback Mountain, decided to raise Matilda away from the spotlight.

The Blue Valentine star took a hiatus from acting and moved to upstate New York with Matilda after Heath's death.

She previously said the move stemmed from her desire to provide 'a sane home environment' for her daughter.

'We moved - we left Brooklyn and lived in the country for six years because it was an intolerable state of existence,' she told the New York Post in June 2016.

Years later, Michelle made the decision to return to the Big Apple and bought a property in Brooklyn, where she had lived before the move.

Before their break-up, Michelle and Heath had shared a $3.6million townhouse in Boerum Hill, a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the borough.

Michelle, who is now married to theatre director Thomas Kail, previously spoke about wanting to give Matilda siblings in an interview with GQ in 2012.