Lily Cole has said Heath Ledger's death was the first time she lost someone close to her.

The two starred together in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus, which had its Hollywood premiere at the AFI Festival.

Lily said: "It was the first time that anyone has ever died that's close to me - it's a universal feeling that anyone feels, shock, sadness."

But, she added, completing the film without him felt like a real achievement.

"I do feel really proud, I feel like it was such an impossibly difficult thing they were faced with trying to finish and I feel very proud that they did manage to finish it.

"Heath was an extraordinary person and you get to see it now."

She added that she learnt "experience-wise" through filming.

"It took a lot from me energy-wise and it gave so much to me experience-wise, I feel like I've been given a lot" the model-turned-actress explained.