Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher died exactly nine years ago Saturday – the day before her movie star mother Debbie Reynolds, in a haunting twist of fate.
Fisher had been open about her battles with addiction and bipolar disorder, which she documented in her memoirs and romans à clef like Postcards from the Edge.
The actress and writer died at the age of 60 after going into cardiac arrest on a plane with cocaine, morphine and ecstasy in her system.
She was on a flight from London to Los Angeles when the health crisis occurred and was rushed to the hospital when the aircraft landed.
Although she underwent treatment, she was pronounced dead in the hospital four days after the flight – at 8:55am on December 27, 2016.
One day later her grief-stricken mother Debbie Reynolds died of a stroke at 84, after telling her son Todd Fisher: ‘I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie.’
Star Warsicon Carrie Fisherdied exactly nine years ago Saturday – the day before her movie star mother Debbie Reynolds, in a haunting twist of fate; the pair pictured in 2015
The coroner’s report on Fisher’s death was not released until the following June and said she died of sleep apnea among other undetermined causes.
However the toxicology report shed more light on the circumstances surrounded her death, revealing she had opiates, cocaine, methadone and ethanol in her system.
Reynolds announced the death of her ‘beloved and amazing daughter’ on Facebook, which she heartbreakingly signed: ‘Love Carries Mother.’
One day later, she herself died of a stroke at the age of 84, after uttering her last words: ‘I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie,’ according to TMZ.
Their survivors include Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd, 33, whom she welcomed with her second husband, Hollywood super-agent Bryan Lourd.
Billie has followed in her mother and grandmother’s footsteps and become an actress, and she is now married to actor Austen Rydell, with whom she shares two children – her son Kingston, five, and her daughter Jackson, three.
She marked her mother’s ninth death anniversary this Saturday by posting two pictures to Instagram – one of herself with both her parents 25 years ago, and one taken in the same room this Christmas of her father with her children.
It has been 9 years since my mom died. My daughter woke up earlier than usual this morning so we went outside together and she knowingly laid her little head on my chest. She looked up at me with her big soulful eyes and said “I love you mama” and grabbed my face with her little chubby hands and kissed me,’ wrote Billie.
Their survivors include Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd, 33, whom she welcomed with her second husband, Hollywood super-agent Bryan Lourd; all pictured 2000
She marked her mother’s ninth death anniversary with two pictures – one of herself with both her parents, and one taken in the same room this Christmas of her father with her children
‘She does this pretty much every morning and dare I say, there is no better way to wake up and no ritual I love more. I told her how much her grandmomby would have loved her and she looked up at me and kissed me again,’ she added.
‘Then we walked to breakfast with my dad and they ran around together like 2 old souls that have known each other forever,’ she recalled.
The happiness of that moment ‘wouldn’t be possible without my mom,’ Billie noted, writing: ‘This joy only exists because she existed. So even though she is not physically part of this joy, she is part of the reason for it. Even though she is not alive she lives on through this joy.’
She observed: ‘My grief takes on many shapes – today, right now in this moment, that shape is this joy I get to experience watching my kids with my dad. It could and will change shapes multiple times throughout this day because grief is never just one thing but right now I am relishing in this bittersweet grieful joy.’
Billie went on: ‘As my mom wisely said, “Nothing is ever really over. Just over there”. My mombys life isnt really over. Just over there – in my kids and in this joy I’m able to experience because of her. Thank you momby. I will never stop missing you.’
At the time of her death she was working on a sequel to her hit one-woman show Wishful Drinking, which she adapted into a memoir of the same name.
Wishful Drinking was a blisteringly funny and open account of such turbulent experiences as her Star Wars fame, drug addiction, bipolar disorder, marriage to Paul Simon and celebrity parents Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
Reynolds and Eddie Fisher were married from 1955 until 1959, when he deserted her and their two children for her friend Elizabeth Taylor.
Fisher had been open about her battles with addiction and bipolar disorder, which she documented in her memoirs and romans à clef; pictured in 1977 in a publicity still for Star Wars
Pointing to a photo-strewn blackboard onstage, Fisher explained: ‘For those of you that are younger, try to think of it this way. Think of Eddie as Brad Pitt, Debbie as Jennifer Aniston and Elizabeth as Angelina Jolie. Does that help?’
She described her worldview onstage during the show: ‘If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true, and that is completely unacceptable.’
At another point in the play, she vamped about the fact ‘people are still asking me if I knew Star Wars was gonna be that big of a hit. Yes! I knew! We all knew. The only one who didn’t know was George Lucas. We kept it from him, ’cause we wanted to see what his face looked like when it changed expression.’
In 2008, she adapted the show – which she performed barefoot – into the first of what turned out to be three memoirs she would write over the course of her lifetime.
Shockaholic followed three years later, covering such subjects as her experience with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) to treat her bipolar disorder.
The book also contains reminiscences of her relationship with her father during his final years, the Christmas she had with Michael Jackson during what turned out to be the winter before his death and her disastrous blind date with US Senator Chris Dodd.
Months before she died, she published her last book The Princess Diarist, which aired out the journals she kept while filming the first Star Wars movie in England in 1976, along with newly-written commentary.
Reynolds, pictured in 1955, announced the death of her ‘beloved and amazing daughter’ on Facebook, which she heartbreakingly signed: ‘Love Carries Mother’
The most famous revelation in the book was of the affair she had with her co-star Harrison Ford, who was 14 years her senior and still married to his first wife.
The book describes the dalliance as a ‘three-month one-night stand,’ but expounds at length about her insecurity and her keen desire to impress him at the time.
Before the memoirs, she wrote four semi-autobiographical novels, beginning with Postcards From The Edge, which follows actress called Suzanne Vale who emerges from rehab and struggles to reassemble her life and career.
Fisher adapted the novel into a screenplay for a 1990 Mike Nichols film of the same name, in which Suzanne was played by Meryl Streep and her Debbie Reynolds-modeled mother Doris Mann was played by Shirley MacLaine.
The next romans à clef were Surrender The Pink – which was inspired by her failed marriage to Paul Simon – Delusions Of Grandma and a Postcards from the Edge sequel called The Best Awful and published in 2004.
