Heath Ledger's uncle, Haydn Ledger, told Australia's News Ltd newspapers there was a "real possibility" that the late actor fathered a child at 17 with an older woman. The paper reports that the woman is believed to have learned she was pregnant after her affair with a teenage Ledger ended.

A family source told the newspaper group over the weekend, "She had the baby. Everyone lived under the assumption that she was the daughter of the mother's boyfriend and that is how she has been brought up."

The actor's father, Kim Ledger, and mother, Sally Bell, refused to comment to the publication yesterday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reached the woman Ledger is believed to have had an affair with. She pleaded for privacy and claimed her daughter, 11, could be "incredibly hurt," if she were to be identified.

The child's stepfather suggested a DNA test to ease press attention according to one Australian report, but the woman refused one when contacted by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The request was "very, very rude," the mother said.