Carrie Fisher’s half-sister Joely knew the actress’ mother Debbie Reynolds would not survive if she lost her only daughter.
The Star Wars icon, famed for her role in the franchise as Princess Leia, was hospitalized on 23 December (16) after suffering a heart attack onboard a flight from London to Los Angeles and died four days later, on 27 December (16).
Movie legend Debbie promptly shared a message of thanks to her fans for their “thoughts and prayers” after the 60-year-old’s passing, but the following day, the 84-year-old also died after suffering a suspected stroke.
A joint funeral is reportedly set to take place in Los Angeles on Thursday (05Jan16), when the actresses will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Carrie’s half-sisters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, from singer Eddie Fisher’s third marriage to actress Connie Stevens, will be among the mourners at the private ceremony, and they have opened up about their tragic loss in a joint interview for America’s ABC News.
During the chat, which aired on Tuesday (03Jan16), Joely Fisher recalled spending Christmas (25Dec16) by Carrie’s bedside, honoring a promise the siblings had made days before the star’s hospitalization, and sitting with Debbie made her realize how fragile the veteran actress’ health was, too.
“I remember just holding her (Carrie’s) hand and just telling her that we were there, that we would make sure her daughter (Billie Lourd) was whole, which she will be,” Joely explained. “I sat with Debbie, and she said… she was praying for more time. She kept saying that she wanted more time, and I knew that if Carrie wasn’t going to survive this, that Debbie would not. You knew it.
“You could feel it in her tiny, little, beautiful body,” she continued. “You could see it in her face. She would not last without her on the planet, she wouldn’t. And she didn’t.”
Tricia went on to reveal her niece, Carrie’s daughter Billie, has managed to hold herself together fairly well throughout the double heartbreak.
Heaping praise on the Scream Queens actress’ strength, Tricia said, “Billie was handling everything. She’s an amazing, soulful, smart girl. She was obviously rattled to her core, it’s her mum, but she was handling it.”
The same can’t be said of Joely, who previously admitted she was “inconsolable” following the double loss.
“I’ve been having an out-of-body experience,” she shared of her grief. “The world lost Carrie, and Debbie of course, but (Carrie was) Princess Leia and we lost our hero. We lost our mirror.”
Tricia added, “We had the coolest big sister in the world. She was a bad a**… gun-toting princess. Who had that?”
– Cover Media
