Award Banner
Award Banner

Carrie Fisher's brother Todd rubbishes Billie Lourd's claims that siblings capitalised on sister's death

Carrie Fisher's brother Todd rubbishes Billie Lourd's claims that siblings capitalised on sister's death
Late actress Debbie Reynolds (left) poses with her daughter late actress Carrie Fisher (right) backstage after accepting her Lifetime Achievement award at the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California Jan 25, 2015.
PHOTO: Reuters file

Todd Fisher has rubbished Billie Lourd's claim that the late Carrie Fisher's siblings capitalised on her death.

The late Star Wars legend — who died in December 2016 aged 60 — will be honoured with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 4, Star Wars Day, and her daughter hit back after Todd expressed his dismay at not being given one of 30 guestlist spots at the induction.

Billie, 30, said that Todd, 65, Joely, 55, and Tricia Leigh Fisher, 54, are excluded from attending, and "they know why".

In a statement issued to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: "Days after my mum died, her brother and her sister chose to process their grief publicly and capitalise on my mother's death, by doing multiple interviews and selling individual books for a lot of money, with my mum and my grandmother's deaths as the subject. 

"I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship.

"Though I recognise they have every right to do whatever they choose, their actions were very hurtful to me at the most difficult time in my life. I chose to and still choose to deal with her loss in a much different way."

[[nid:628247]]

And now, Todd has responded to Billie's statement and insisted his memoir and interview he gave didn't make a buck out of his sister's passing.

He told Entertainment Tonight: "I take issue with what she said on every level. There was no money made on anything."

On why he spoke to the press, he continued: "I did one 20/20 interview, and I didn't charge for that.

"I only did that because the pundits were making a big deal out of the fact that my mother died of a broken heart. And it was really annoying me because I didn't agree with that analysis.

"Then, months and months later, I wrote my personal memoir, called My Girls, which is a book about my sister and my mother and our life together over sixty years.

"That book, it's an homage to them. And it's not about their death, it's about their life. There's less than one chapter about death."

Billie heartbreakingly lost her mother and grandmother, Debbie Reynolds, just a day apart.

Todd published his memoir My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie in 2018. Joely released Growing Up Fisher: Musings, Memories and Misadventures in 2017.

Carrie's director brother was left reeling and said he found it "distressing" after he was "intentionally omitted" from the guestlist.

He told TMZ: "Frankly, it's a distressing situation and I don't deserve to be put in this position.

"As the only brother of Carrie Fisher, being omitted from this special day is truly hurtful.

"I was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes."

[[nid:628265]]

He added: "It's heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie."

Todd insisted he was extremely close to Carrie and Debbie but in his tell-all memoir, he confessed that his sister was "angry" with him during their last conversation.

He wrote that "there was always different tension between the family of mum, particularly myself, and Carrie, as it related to her drug use at the time."

An autopsy found that Carrie had traces of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy in her system at the time of her death.

Todd shared: "But when Carrie and I got face-to-face, there was no way to have any of that. It just melted away, because the blood, the relationship between brother and sister, the bond, is so deep."

He went on to claim that despite their differences, Carrie told him: "We have to be okay with each other. It's the foundation."

ALSO READ: Cannes Film Festival to honour Michael Douglas with honorary Palme d'Or

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.