Relatives of Hollywood actor Heath Ledger said he may have fathered a secret love child when he was 17, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said Monday.

Ledger, 28, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment January 22 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Michelle Williams, whom Ledger met on the set of "Brokeback Mountain", is the mother of Matilda, their two-year-old daughter.

Ledger's uncle, Haydn Ledger, told the paper that there was "a real possibility" that the Australian-born heartthrob had fathered a girl with a 25-year-old woman who had broken off the relationship by the time she knew she was pregnant. She was living with another man in Perth at the time.

Confirmation that Ledger was already a father when Matilda was born could split his estate between the two girls.

Williams, 27, separated from Ledger late last year. Court documents released in the US media show Ledger had filed a will in Australia in April 2003, which reportedly left his assets to his parents and sisters. It was drafted two years before he met Williams.

Ledger's uncles, Mike and Haydn, are said to have warned Williams that she may be cut out of the estate. "I'm concerned for Matilda," Haydn Ledger was quoted as saying last month. "I have concerns about the distribution of funds."

Ledger's father, Kim, and his estranged brothers, Haydn, Mike and Wayne, are feuding over other family matters.